A/N: Before you read this fic, I must warn you that I initially wrote it in Russian and published it on Ficbook. Then I decided to translate it into English. I'm not a native English speaker, but I've been learning this language for several years and I tried my best in this translation. So tell me immediately if my vocabulary and/or grammar sucked! I'm open to criticism and will appreciate your help in fixing my possible mistakes and inaccuracies.
The title refers to Tanita Tikaram's "Twist In My Sobriety", but the fanfic was written to Dreadful Shadows' cover on this song. You can also try listening to "God and Devil" by Mental Discipline, it fits here as well. The main characters are about 15-16 years old.
When autumn set in, the image of Ocean Shores didn't change much: neither tree leaves, nor temperature would fall, and people didn't have to wrap themselves in jackets. Only two things were different: all the shoobies finally left the town, and kids had to go to school. Otto and Twister never really cared about school, but nevertheless the last day of the summer made them feel both excited and scared. They went, no, they rushed for the last waves of the summer — as Otto said, when else would they get a chance to surf? "Well, maybe tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and, actually, any day of the year?" Reggie sniffed when she heard that. But Otto and Twister were too far away to hear her comment, desperately running to the beach. Even the sudden weather change couldn't stop them... well, actually, Twister tried to ditch their plan, but Otto was adamant. "What's up with you? Don't tell me you're afraid of a soft breeze."
"I'm catching it!"
Otto's shout was barely audible through wind and water noise. Twister found it a little hard to stand up on the board but he was able to do it anyway, and when he did, he had to narrow his eyes to see his friend ahead of him, so stoked and full of energy.
"Oh yeah... l-let's t-tear it up!" Twister replied to him, feigning his courage.
Then they both started carving, despite this idea being very risky. The gnarly, dreadful wave seemed to have surrendered to them; the two shared a victorious look before they went into the tube. The water barreled the two surfers; they both managed to keep footing, they both handled this wave — what a sweet victory it was! When the wave broke, and Otto left the tube, he was so excited that he couldn't calm down at once, so the stormy Mother Ocean had to hear him shouting for at least half a minute. And because of that Otto didn't notice right away that he was all alone.
"Hey, Twist?!" he cried, looking around with fear. Another gust of wind beat him in his face and stirred the water. "Where are you?"
Twister wasn't seen anywhere, though his board floated around. But only a moment later after Otto had seen it, the all-too-familiar brown striped hat floated to the surface of water.
"Help!" he yelled, turning to the shore and swinging his arms with all his might. "Help, help, help!"
Having heard him, Lieutenant Ryan rushed into the ocean, while Otto himself dived down to search for Twister.
Twister barely could open his eyes; once he did it, he felt like closing them again because of the strong light shining on his face.
"...I'm sorry that I've never really listened to you... that I always cut you off and scoffed at you... and I'm also sorry for that stuff when..."
Having blinked a few times, Twister finally got used to the light. He soon figured out he was in the emergency department, and there was Otto sitting next to him, his head down and hands holding Twister's limp hand.
Then he heard Otto muttering, "...I'm so sorry that I took your longboard without even asking you and busted it. I'm such an idiot!"
"You broke my longboard?-" Twister asked and coughed. Otto jerked his head up to meet Twister's confused look.
"You're alive!" he cried with excitement.
"Of course I am..." Twister looked around at gaze. "What happened to me?"
"Well, the waves were gnarly, and you fell off the board..." Otto started.
"Yeah, I remember," Twister replied, trying to sit up, but all of a sudden he felt strong pain in his leg and cried, "What was that?!"
"Don't worry! You just sprained your ankle!" Otto said quickly and helped his friend to sit up.
Twister saw a cast on his foot and asked anxiously, "The left one or the right one?"
Otto facepalmed and replied, "The left one, Twist."
Twister sighed heavily.
"How should I play hockey now? Or skate? Or even walk? Oh, man!"
"It'll... it'll be okay!" Otto tried to calm him down. "Only a couple of weeks, big deal!"
"Two whole weeks!" Twister put his face in his hands. "So I have to stick my skateboard to the cast, huh?"
That very moment, a young male nurse came in and noted with satisfaction, "You're already awake, that's good."
"What should I do now, doc?!" Twister yelled, pointing at his cast.
The nurse sighed, as he started his routine check on the patient, "You're definitely not playing extreme sports for three weeks at least."
"Three whole weeks?!" Twister yelled even louder, and when the nurse was gone, he groaned, "Oh maaaan... that's one week more than two weeks!"
Suddenly he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder; he turned his head to meet Otto's knowing look.
"Don't worry, bro." Otto winked at him. "I've got a plan."
They grinned at each other and made their secret handshake.
However, Otto's plan turned out to be nothing like what Twister had imagined. It was anything but Otto's type of thing: how could he give up all the sports — that is, everything he lived and breathed for — just because Twister couldn't play?
"Are you sure, Ottoman?" Twister asked once again in utter disbelief.
Otto was going to spend the whole three weeks with Twister, not playing hockey, not surfing, not even skateboarding or roller-skating.
U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e!
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure!" Otto said irritatedly. "It's not so much fun without you anyway, and... and... it's just... nevermind!"
"Or maybe I could use my skateboard as a-" Twister tried to argue again.
"No way!" Otto interrupted him. "I tried this stuff when I broke my leg, and you remember how lame it was."
"Oh, you're right," Twister agreed. "But what we're gonna do all this time?"
In reply to this, Otto said, looking quite pleased with himself, "I took care of everything!"
He took a sheet of paper out of his pocket and put it on the bar.
"It wasn't easy, but I came up with some ideas of what you – I mean, we – can do."
Twister looked at the list and tried to find something dangerous and risky, like, for example, "wheelchair race", something that would be totally in Otto's style. But, no, nothing in the list was anything like this: there were only safe and primarily indoor activities. No extreme sports at all.
Who are you and what have you done to Otto?
Can Otto have been kidnapped by aliens and then replaced by one of them?!
Nah, that doesn't make sense.
"Okay," Twister sighed, "we just have to get through this. And-" he stuttered at the end of the sentence. Otto gave him a confused look.
"Thanks, bro," Twister said softly and smiled.
"No problem!" Otto waved his hand dismissively.
At that moment, Tito came and started, putting food on the table, "You know, little cuzzes, this reminds me of..."
"Here comes another boring story about the 70s." Otto whispered in Twister's ear, and the latter chuckled.
Tito heard them and said in an injured voice, "Boring? And it's not about the 70s! This story's gonna be about... about... the 80s, yes!"
"Sorry, Tito, we're listening!" Otto and Twister said, their eyes wide open and looking at him attentively.
As they ate their food, Tito was telling them another story from his youth. However, the story went in one ear and out the other, because the boys were out of it: Twister was busy thinking of the sacrifice Otto made for him, while Otto... was busy thinking of the sacrifice he made for Twister. Yes, he was serious about it. He seldom felt his own guilt so clearly, and never in his life did his heart bleed so much for his best bud — so many disturbing thoughts he got on his mind in that short time he waited for Twister to wake up. But the whole three weeks... no, he had already made up his mind. He could handle it, definitely.
At first, it wasn't that bad. Every day after school Otto and Twister, as usual, made their way home together, but on foot instead of a skateboard or a bike. They both were not used to it, and, of course, it took them a bit more time to get there. Reggie and Sam couldn't keep the slow tempo and often went ahead of their friends.
"Maybe you guys should give a chance to aggressive street walking?" Sam teased them from day to day.
Otto and Twister's answer remained the same, with their thumbs down, "Lame!"
"Ha! You're just afraid of competing with me because I had years and years of practice!"
Truth be told, Sam and Reggie were upset at Otto's being off the team: Twister alone could be filled in by somebody else, but they couldn't replace their captain. For that reason all the Rockets' matches were put off until better times. But both Reggie and Sam fully supported Otto's decision, amazed at how selfless it was. Of course, they didn't forget about Twister, but they, indeed, spent much less time with him than Otto did.
Whenever they went to Madtown or to the beach, Otto said with a peaceful smile, "Good luck to you, guys!"
After that, he and Twister were left to themselves at home. Together they were busy both with doing their boring homework and watching horrors, pizza tasting and skateboard repairing, and, finally, editing the video records Twister had piled up for some time. Otto was suddenly interested in filming and in what Twister did for creating such sick videos. Twister wasn't ready to see Otto actually listening to him, so he was waiting for the other shoe to drop when he talked about the details of his work, but Otto did pay attention to him. Sometimes he also seemed to be a little too caring about Twister, for he was always watching Twister lest the latter should stumble somewhere. A little too caring…
"Hey!" Twister glared at Otto, who was holding his shoulders tightly. The latter loosened his grip with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry."
"I just got off the couch..." Twister sighed.
Man, it must be aliens!
At the end of the week, while playing another Tony Hawk game with Otto, Twister freaked out, "Dude, I can't take it anymore! I wanna skate for real!"
"No, just no." Otto said in a firm voice. "Remember what doc said-"
"I don't care!" Twister shouted as he got off the couch and threw his gamepad away. His hands on the back of the couch, he tried to make his way to the door.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Otto cried in an irritated voice, following Twister.
"I'm gonna skate!"
"Don't go!"
"Stop telling me what to do!-"
"I mean, don't go without me."
Twister turned around and gazed at Otto in wonder. Otto, in his turn, smiled at him. He smiled just like the good old Otto, who would have dragged his best bro to a halfpipe even in a wheelchair.
"Oh, thanks for bringing my friend back..." Twister said with a sigh of relief, looking up at the ceiling; Otto gave him a puzzled look.
Twister shook his head to clear his mind. Otto helped him to get down the stairs, handed him his gear and geared up himself. For the hour was really late, they tried to do everything as quiet as possible. They tiptoed around Raymundo, who was sleeping on the couch, and snuck out the house. Otto immediately started cruising around the cul-de-sac — it was obvious that he had felt really "skate-sick" that week. Watching him, Twister put his board on the ground, too, and tried to get on it, but the problem was, he had injured exactly his front foot. So as soon as he pushed, he lost his balance and flew off the board, crying out in pain. Just about that time Otto was going by, so he attempted to catch Twister but ended up falling down together with him.
"What if I try switch skating?" Twister said with little hope, watching his board skate away not too far.
"I don't think it'll work." Otto shook his head, as he got up and dusted himself down.
"Oh, man..." Twister fizzled out and sat up.
Otto had thought a little, then said, "But I-I think I know what may work! Wait a sec!"
He dashed to the garage. He was back in a few minutes on roller skates, holding his new longboard — the one he guarded with his life.
"Since I busted your longboard, you can have mine for now." Otto smiled and handed the board to Twister.
"You mean it?" he whistled, accepting the gift. "I... don't even know how..."
"It's whatever!" Otto waved his hand, but then added, "But only until your ankle is healed."
"Wow..." Twister couldn't keep his eyes off the longboard.
When he grounded the board, Otto stretched out his arms to him. Twister held them tightly and got on the board. They were staring into each other's eyes for a while, until Otto turned and pushed on the ground; they both started rolling slowly. Another glance at each other and simultaneous cheers, they kept gaining speed and skating around the cul-de-sac. At that moment, Twister felt truly happy: his best friend helped him to get on the board even when it seemed impossible. While he snuck occasional glances at Otto, he saw his auburn red curls waving in the breeze. It was still a bit unusual to Twister, because Otto had dreadlocks most of his life, and Twister couldn't remember him with different hair. Finally, when they got tired, they sat on the Rocket house's steps.
"Man, I missed that so much... it's been only a week without skating, but it seemed like a lifetime..." Otto said with a smile.
"Yeah..." Twister closed his eyes peacefully. Then he asked, "Tell me, how did you even come up with that idea? You know, to stop playing everything… it wouldn't hurt me, if you skated without me."
"Well... you know..." Otto stopped short. Then he pulled himself together to say, "I realized something right after that accident. It was totally my fault. Your life was in danger because of me being so cocky."
"Oh, come on, it's not the first time!" Twister said lightly and shrugged.
"That's the problem! We were toast just every time I didn't listen to you!"
"But it was vice versa as well, like, you know, when we-"
Hardly had Twister started remembering, when Otto hissed at him, "Twist, you're ruining the moment!"
"Sorry!" Twister couldn't help smiling, seeing such reaction.
"So... I wanted to change for the better, to become a real best bro to you, not the one who always makes you feel second best. Man, I was so stupid..."
Otto faced away, leaving his thought unfinished.
Twister moved nearer him, gently touched his hand and said, "But Otto, I never doubted you. You've always been my real best bro, and I still admire your skills."
Otto turned towards Twister, his eyes full of hope, and asked, "So you don't mind recording my tricks tomorrow?"
"Anytime, bro!" Twister nudged him, and they both laughed.
However, Otto pointed out, "But I'm not going to give up my intentions. I will respect my bro, always and forever."
"Wow... seems like I'll need some time to get used to this brand new Otto." Twister chuckled. Right after that, he got off the steps and suggested, "Wanna skate a little?"
"Sure, bro!"
"Look there, Otto is back!" Reggie said to Sam and Trish. They turned towards the shore and saw Otto already paddling to them.
"What about his promise?" Trish was puzzled. Reg could only shrug in response.
When Otto was close enough, Sam greeted him, "Good to see you back in business."
"Yeah, Squid!" Otto nodded in approval and grinned. "It's like I haven't seen the ocean for ages."
"How is Twister doing?" Reg asked.
"He's right over there!" Otto pointed at the shore, where Twister was sitting with his camera, and Twister waved at them merrily. "We had a talk about my promise and decided to go a different way."
Reggie, Trish, and Sam exchanged knowing looks. Otto at that time had already been busy watching the ocean.
He pointed at the upcoming wave, shouting, "I'll have this one!"
"Here you go, Ottoman," the others chuckled and then watched him catching the wave and shredding.
Meanwhile, Twister was recording him on the video. This day the waves were so swell that Twister at first got upset — he was missing all the fun! But the thought about Otto supporting him warmed his heart at once; soon he lost himself in filming and shared his friends' excitement.
After the surfing session the gang decided to go to the Shack, then to Madtown. While discussing plans, Otto and Twister exchanged knowing looks and made a woogie, and this drew attention of the others.
What are these two up to?
At the Shack, they met Sherry and Eddie, and those two decided to join the others; so then the big teen gang went to the park. Very soon it became clear for everyone what Otto and Twister had called "a different way"…
"Isn't that your new longboard?" Reggie gave Otto a puzzled look.
Only Sherry and Otto were on roller skates, while the rest of the gang were on skateboards. The rest of the gang, and Twister, too.
"Well yeah," Otto shrugged, helping Twister to get on the board. "Twister's keeping it for now."
"But how do you-"
Hardly had Reggie finished her question, when the two took their arms, pushed on the ground and skated away. Then Reggie smiled and added, "Oh, I see."
Trish nudged Sherry and asked, "Hey, would you do the same for me?"
"You bet, girlfriend!" Sherry chuckled and put her arm around Trish's shoulders.
Trying to be posh, Eddie waved his black goth cape and commanded, "Follow the Prince of the Netherworld!"
With this, he rolled on his skateboard and led the gang, but Reggie and Sam went ahead of him very soon with a laugh.
One fine day, Twister woke up to look at the calendar and realize that those three terrible weeks were, at last, over. This thought had him jump up on the bed; a moment later he realized he was actually able to jump and got even happier. He ran out of the room, then went downstairs to inform his parents. For the last few days he was dying to have his cast taken off because his leg began itching like hell, and this finally happened. However, when his leg was released from this prison, he shot a farewell look to the cast covered with drawings and wondered: were those three weeks actually "terrible"?
"Let me sign it here?" Otto suggested, aiming his pen at Twister's leg.
"Sure! Can I sign your leg then?" Twister asked, looking innocent.
Otto got bashful for some reason. "But I don't have a cast... but if you want to..."
Twister slowly ran his hand over Otto's sprawling signature. In fact, those three weeks passed by faster than he had expected, and he spent all that time having fun with his friends, like he always did, and was even able to skate, thanks to Otto. Otto was always there for Twister, so the three terrible weeks turned into the three... wonderful weeks. Twister again recalled that evening...
"I will respect my bro, always and forever."
It seemed so weird that Otto was sincere and serious in his words and didn't even need to be forced by Reggie or Sam. Moreover, his words did match his deeds. Of course, Twister had always thought that Otto was good deep at heart but covered it with arrogance and cockiness; however, he still couldn't believe what was happening.
"But isn't that what best friends are for?" Twister thought out loud, when he went outside, holding his skateboard in his hands.
"For what?"
Twister near jumped out of his skin when he heard Otto's voice from afar.
Slowing down his skateboard, Otto rolled to Twister and slapped him on the back with a laugh, "Let's go now, or we're gonna be late for our classes."
"Yeah, let's move," Twister grinned, as he got on his board. Like always, he and Otto took each other's hands and...
"Sorry, I forgot that-" they both exclaimed as they sprang back from each other.
The two stared at each other for a couple of seconds, then laughed awkwardly and skated off. Despite all the stereotypes about autumn, this season was only the beginning.