It was only slightly warm, but the sun continued to shine as though the wind wasn't even there. Emil was too busy burying his toes into the sand to notice this. However, burying your toes in the sand is hard when you're on a rocky beach, so Emil tried to catch the largest patch of sand he could find in the water.
'Stupid school trips.' Emil thought.
It was one of those class outings you went on when you got the highest attendance in the year or something, and they ended up going to this lousy beach. Two of the classes had drawn, so they were both at this beach to save money.
He wasn't enjoying it in the slightest.
It was cold, wet and windy. And boring.
And when he looked around, he could see his classmates playing football or just simply lying on the beach trying to scrounge for the last drops of sunlight.
And Emil was here, up to his ankles in the water, looking completely out-of-place. And bored.
That was when he noticed him. He wasn't in his class, that was for sure, and he wasn't lounging in the sun with most people, he wasn't playing football like most of the other boys were. No. He was simply sitting under a shady tree, texting on his mobile.
Now that he looked closer, Emil could see that this boy had quite an athletic build. Which was what led him to believe that he should be playing football. Emil also noticed that he was quite... Handsome?
Well he certainly looked nice. And by the looks of it, he had been for a swim.
His dark hair was stuck to his face, and was still dripping a bit.
Wasn't it too cold to be swimming?
What. The. Hell. Why was Emil thinking like this? He averted his gaze to his feet, which seemed to be a lot more interesting than they were before. He was blushing and it wasn't hard to tell. The heat could be felt on his face thanks to the cold weather. But that boy, he was just hard not to look at. He was quite peculiar, and so Emil decided to just sneak a glance at him...
He was looking straight back. As soon as Emil had turned, he caught his eye. And now they were just staring at each other.
Well, awkward wasn't the correct word to use.
He tried to look away but he was trapped. Those amber orbs were mesmerizing, and he couldn't turn away. He was ever so thankful when the football skimmed past his face and landed with a splash in the ocean next to him.
He picked it up and threw it to the boys who it belonged to, before looking at the boy again.
He wasn't looking this time, and Emil breathed a sigh of relief.
He went back to scanning the area. Nothing seemed to have changed, except the teachers were chatting up some well-toned lifeguard.
Well, good for them.
Everyone seemed to be having fun except him. How unfair. He even thought about how nice it would be to be by his brother, and that was saying someth-
Poke, poke.
He turned around. Surprise. It was the boy.
"I saw you staring at me. Is there something wrong? Or did you notice how hot I am?"
Maybe.
"No. Leave me alone."
"Do you want to go swimming?"
"No. Leave me alone."
"Do you find it fun to stand still?"
"No. Leave me alone."
"Can you swim?"
"No. Leave me alone. Wai-"
"I'll teach you."
…
"No. Leave me alone."
The boy stood there. He seemed to be waiting for something.
"What?"
"Let me teach you."
Sigh.
"No."
"Let me teach you."
"Shut up."
"Let me teach you."
"Go away."
"Let me teach you."
"You don't even know me!"
"I'll get to know you when i'm teaching you."
He wanted this boy to teach him. God damn.
"Fine."
And the boy stood triumphantly. He had won. And Emil had given in to this stranger. Why? Because of his looks? Maybe.
"What's your name?"
"Emil..."
" I'm Leon. How lovely to meet you. You seem such a lovely person."
How sarcastic. Maybe it was natural to use sarcasm from where he came from. It came easily enough.
"Same to you."
It was pathetic, but it was all he could think of. Oh well.
Leon started wading into the water. Ripples bouncing from his body and back into the watery abyss. And Emil found he could only stare after him. He also found that his cheeks were heating up again. Wow. He had only just met this boy and look what he was doing to him. He couldn't help it! He could just pretend that there was something wrong if he found out. Oh god, what if he saw Emil staring? What would he say? Would he hate him? Emil Wouldn't care, right?
"Are you coming?"
"Y-yeah, hold on."
Emil took a few cautious steps deeper into the water, causing Leon to sigh.
To be honest, Emil really wasn't the swimmer type, he rarely left the house, why he agreed to take part on this outing he doesn't know. His elder brother had not succeeded in trying to make Emil learn to swim, but somehow Leon had. Maybe it was his looks.
Emil would never say that out loud. No way.
He was now waist-high in the water and was beginning to panic. He never knew he was scared of the water, maybe it was just his inexperience with the stuff but now Emil was trying to calm himself with deep breaths and Leon happened to notice.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Emil seemed to snap. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that. Whatever.
"... Do you want me to carry you?"
"... What."
"Do you?"
"How would that work?"
"You could just jump up a bit, and i'll hold you, and you could wrap your legs around my waist."
Blush. What was this kid saying. Did he even realise how weird that sounded?
"No."
"Why? You'll be lighter in the water."
"That's just embarrassing."
Leon turned awa- No. Wait, was that a smirk? The kid was enjoying this?
Fine then. I'll play this game. That's what Emil thought. And the idea sounded better in his head, but the way the blush stood proudly on his cheeks meant something else entirely.
"Fine then. How can you carry me when you're standing over there?"
Now Leon was full-on grinning. Great. Emil wondered if there were any more tricks up the others' sleeve.
He walked over, slowly and deliberately, before opening his arms at Emil.
The latter just stood there for a while.
Silence.
And then he moved closer to Leon and leant on his chest, jumping slightly and wrapping his legs around the other. He felt Leon place his hand on the small of his back.
Oh my god. Why is this happening.
Emil was just about ready to shove his face in the others' shoulder to hide his blush when he realised that it was a bad idea.
But he was blushing so hard. He really didn't want Leon to think that he was vulnerable.
He opened his eyes a little, he didn't even realise that they were shu-
Yes. Leon was just staring at him. It was perfect for one of those romantic movie settings.
The male holding the female around the waist, the sun setting, and they were both gazing at each other.
Except Emil was not female, the sun wasn't even out any more, and Leon was receiving more of an icy glare than a gaze.
Oh, the joy.
"Okay, so first, we'll get you used to the water."
"Whatever."
"Sheesh."
Leon began moving further out, until the water circled Emil's stomach. Then he stopped.
"Shall I put you down?"
"Yes. I'm sick of you."
"Ouch Emil, you hurt my heart so!"
Queue Emil blushing.
"... Just put me down."
Leon loosened his grip on Emil's waist, the other slowly unwinding his legs and sliding down Leon's hips, landing softly on the wet sand.
That was until Emil realised they were holding hands, causing him to jerk back slightly.
This also caused him to slip on a rock, meaning that Leon had to come to the rescue.
Emil felt himself being pulled forwards, an arm slipping around his waist and a hand resting firmly on his shoulder.
"Poor you. Are you hurt? Will you need CPR?"
"N-no! Shut up. I just slipped."
Emil straightened himself up, whereas Leon left his arm lingered around the other's waist.
"How do you feel?"
"About what?"
"The water."
"... Fine."
"That's a star-"
A whistle sounded throughout their part of the beach, it was time to go back.
"Shall we go, madam?"
"Y-yeah.."
Leon picked Emil up, bridal style, earning a slight squeak from the other as they made their way back to the shore.
"We'll have to continue with our lessons, won't we?"
"We'll have to see."
"No fair."
They walked in silence for a while after that, Leon putting Emil down so they could collect their belongings.
"You're cute, you know?"
Emil dropped his water bottle.
"D-don't just say something like that!"
"Why? It's true."
"Shut up!"
The two classes began making their way to their separate minibuses, walking through a short patch of forest canopy. They had finished loading their belongings, and were now ticking kids off the register as they filled up the bus.
After dumping his bags into the boot, Emil started walking towards the line of children, when he was pulled back into the trees.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Saying goodbye."
Emil tried to fight a blush. It failed.
"Y-you could have just said it out there."
"You would have freaked out."
"Why?"
Leon snaked an arm around Emil's waist, and rested a hand on the back of his head, bringing them closer. Emil didn't even try to hide the blush, he knew it was futile. He didn't even try to say anything. He kept his eyes wide open, violet meeting amber.
Leon moved slowly towards the other, leaving the smallest of gaps between their lips and closing his eyes before whispering,
"It's fun teasing you, Emil."
He closed the gap, pressing a short, chaste kiss to Emil's lips. Then, he walked away, leaving a flustered Emil behind, unable to sum up what had happened.
He watched Leon walk away, one hand in his pocket, the other grasping his mobile.
-
Emil found a seat at the back of his class' bus. It was quiet here, no-one to bother him. He remembered instructions from a strict brother, asking him for a text when he left.
He fished around in his pocket, but felt the familiar crisp feeling of paper at his fingertips.
Pulling it out of his pockets, he realised what it was. A phone number.