A/N: In this fic, Niou and Marui are cis-females. Any other characters from the series that are mentioned are male. Also I know nothing about surfing.

Summer

When I met you in the summer,
To my heartbeat sound,
We fell in love
As the leaves turned brown.

- "Summer" by Calvin Harris

Marui is eighteen when she sees her from across the beach, bare feet digging into the wet sand as she runs into the ocean surf. She swims out on a well-used gun board and rides like she owns the entire ocean, breaking over the surface of the waves and catching air. Her hair is white like sea foam. Marui feels herself drown towards the edge of her chair, her heart racing with every success and every wipeout.

But after one wipeout, the girl doesn't come back up.

"Oh, shit," Marui swears.

She grabs the walkie-talkie from the edge of her chair, says she's going out to the riptide, and jumps off the high chair into the sand. She sprints by the beach goers, drawing attention, and jumps into the ocean. The saltwater is cold against her skin and her red swimsuit sticks to her skin. She fights the overwhelming current, cutting through the water and pushing herself further out, quickly approaching a lone surfboard. Shit, where is she?

She spots a bob of white a few feet away. Marui reacts before she her brain tells her to. She swims over and loops an arm around the girl's skinny torso, digs her fingers tightly against her ribs, and pulls her above the water. The surfer gasps desperately, coughing and sputtering, and fuck, she's gorgeous.

"My board," the girl says hoarsely.

"Forget your board, will you? We're in the middle of the damn riptide. We need to get out. Can you kick?"

"Yeah."

Marui can already feel the direction of the current against her legs and knows where to go. She turns, planning to head sideways and get out of the tide. Right as she starts to move, Marui sees her co-worker Jackal swimming over and calls out to him, "Get the surfboard! I got the girl!"

Jackal does not respond; it's kind of hard to when you're swimming. Marui kicks fiercely against the tide, and between her upper body strength and the surfer's leg power, they manage to swim to the side and out of the riptide. But Marui knows not to drop her guard now. She begins to head straight for the shore where a crowd has gathered. They're halfway there when Marui realizes the girl has gone limp on her.

Marui feels sand beneath her feet and begins to walk, half-carrying, half-dragging the girl at her side onto dry land. Yukimura has already cleared an area and laid out a towel. He runs over when Marui gets out of the ocean, looping another arm around the girl's torso to help Marui carry her. They gently place her on her back on the towel. Her eyes are closed.

"I called an ambulance," Yukimura says. He grabs the girl's wrist. "I've got a pulse."

Marui holds her hand above the girl's mouth. "She's breathing. I think she swallowed water, though."

Suddenly, the girl coughs and water dribbles down the edges of her mouth. Yukimura holds the back of her head while she spits up the rest of the water. Her eyes slowly open and Marui wonders if she's ever seen a blue quite like that.

"Hey, do you know where you are?" Marui asks gently. "What's your name?"

"You should take a girl out to dinner and learn her name before you kiss her." And then she grins as if she hadn't just been drowning in the riptide. Marui wants to laugh.

"I didn't kiss you," Marui says. "You didn't need CPR."

"That's a shame."

"It's a good thing if you don't need CPR."

"It's a shame if the lifeguard is a cute red head."

Marui sees Yukimura smiling and snaps, "Shut up."

"My board?" the girl questions. Marui turns back towards the ocean, cursing herself for forgetting about Jackal. She sees him coming up out of the water, stepping into the wet sand where the waves break, carrying the decorated gun board at his side.

Marui smiles at the girl. "Saved."

"Sweet."

"What's your name?" Yukimura asks.

"Niou."

Marui, Jackal, and Yukimura monitor Niou while they wait for the ambulance, which shows up ten minutes later. The ambulance parks on the boardwalk and the paramedics come running down onto the sand with a stretcher. Niou is more upset about the fact that she can't take her surfboard with her in the back of the ambulance than she is that she almost drowned.

Marui promises to hold her board for her.

Marui keeps the worn-out gun board under her lifeguard chair for three days, taking it back to her house at night so it isn't stolen. It isn't until the fourth day that Niou shows up. She's in daisy duke jean shorts and a crop top that make Marui warm all over.

"So do I need to bow down and thank you for saving my life?" Niou asks with a mischievous, flirty grin. "Because that seems kind of unnecessary."

"Fruit baskets are also acceptable, as are children named after me."

"How about a bridge named after you? I think I could swing a bridge."

"I'd be taking a loss, but I think I could live with that."

Niou climbs under the chair, picks up her board, and ducks back out through the wooden slats. "But seriously, thanks. I can't believe I fucked up life that."

"It's my job," Marui says, shrugging like it's nothing. "And speaking of my job, I'm not supposed to talk. It distracts me."

A low, vibrating hum settles in the back of Niou's throat. Marui wonders how close she would have to be to the girl to feel it. "What's your name?" Niou asks.

"Marui."

Niou tilts her head, her white hair falling over her shoulders. "Really? My savior's name is Marui? For some reason, I was expecting something more interesting."

Marui rolls her eyes. "Sorry my name isn't exotic."

"I never said it was bad. See ya around, Marui."

Marui wishes she could watch her go.

Niou comes back two days later in a black bikini top and board shorts. She stops by Marui's lifeguard chair to say, "Make sure I don't drown again," then goes back out into the surf without fear or hesitation, as if she had never been swallowed by the sea. She has the same battered gun board that slices through the surface of the water like it's new. Marui has lived on the shore her whole life and has never seen anything quite like it.

Luckily, no one comes close to drowning that day, at least not under her watch. A few chairs down, Jackal has to help a kid who keeps falling face-first into the sand while coming back to shore, but nothing eventful happens and Marui is thankful. Yukimura comes to relieve her from her shift at noon.

"Thank god," Marui says when he shows up, jumping out of her chair and down into the burning sand. She puts on her flip-flops but they don't help much. "I'm starving."

Yukimura smiles as he climbs up. "Anything interesting planned for today?"

"Not really. I'm going to the shack to change then I'm gonna hit the shopping outlets. I need to buy crap for my dorm. And lunch. Food is a must."

"If you went to the community college, you wouldn't have to spend copious amounts of money on boring, adult things like trash cans and desk lamps."

Marui grins and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, like I'm going to stick around here forever." She grabs a flimsy gym bag with her phone and other personal items, digging her hand into its depths for her sunglasses and a pack of half-melted gum. She makes her way towards the boardwalk where there's a shack for the lifeguards to shower and change. Halfway up the beach, she hears someone shout her name.

She turns and is suddenly very appreciative of the fact that bikini tops do not offer much support when a girl is running.

Niou stops a few feet in front of her, a sandy towel wrapped around her wet shoulders. Sand sticks to her legs and stomach. Marui stares at a large clump between her breasts. Niou notices where she's looking and says, "Are you staring at my tits?" She has a wicked grin.

"They're nice tits," Marui replies smoothly.

"They look even better when I'm not wearing anything."

Fuck, Marui thinks. I'm a useless lesbian.

"So I'm guessing you live around here," Niou goes on. "You wouldn't happen to know a place where I could get a good burger, would you? You should take me there if you do."

"Are you asking me out?"

"I thought that was obvious."

"It was, but I thought I should check." Marui smiles. "I know a place about fifteen minutes from here on the boardwalk. Let me change and we can go together."

"Meet you by the shower."

They walk up the path leaving the beach and branch off in different directions. Marui changes as quickly as she can, replacing her one-piece suit with a bra and underwear. She tugs on a pair of jeans and a tank top then leaves the lifeguard shack. She finds Niou standing under a spray of water at a small shower, one of the ones tourists use before going back to a hotel so they don't drag sand everywhere. For the first time, Marui realizes that Niou must be a tourist to be on this stretch of the beach.

Marui approaches from behind. "Where are you staying?"

"There." Niou tilts her head to the side towards the largest resort hotel on the beach. Marui makes a surprised noise. "What?" Niou asks.

"Nothing. It's just that people who stay there usually don't come down to the beach. They just like to look at it while they get spa treatments."

Niou turns off the shower then towels herself dry. She reaches into a bag Marui hadn't noticed before and takes out a white button down, which she puts on but does not button up. Marui once again finds herself staring at Niou's well-defined stomach and breasts, smaller than her own but by no means unpleasant to look at.

"You are not subtle," Niou says.

"Do I have to be?"

"No. Now where are you taking me to lunch?"

Marui takes Niou to her favorite restaurant, a little burger shack with thick milkshakes and burgers that ruin you for life. They share fries and finish everything on their plates. They're halfway through dessert when Niou says, "If you asked for my number, I wouldn't shoot you down." Marui gets her number.

Marui meets up with Jackal on her day off and they run down the beach, waving at their co-workers who are stuck up on their chairs under the unyielding summer sun. When they see an obnoxious yellow umbrella on the horizon, they decide that will be their stopping point and sprint towards it, dodging stray children and jumping over sunbathing girls. Jackal gets caught up behind a group of guys throwing a Frisbee and Marui throws her fists up into the air when she reaches the yellow umbrella first. Then she bends over gasps and gasps for air because damn, it's been awhile since she ran that hard.

"How—are you—not—dying?" she pants, lungs burning.

Jackal shrugs and stretches his arms above his head. "Guess I have better stamina than you. And you're not dying. You always over exaggerate."

"Say that at my funeral."

Jackal slaps her on her back then begins his cool down stretches. Marui spreads out in the sand, knowing she'll regret not stretching come morning when she can't move, but right now the burning sand feels like ice on her flushed skin.

After Marui is done complaining and Jackal is done stretching, they go to the smoothie shack on the boardwalk where Kirihara works. Marui drinks her mango smoothie and looks at the hotels lining the streets. She wonders when Niou is leaving. She doesn't want to ask.

College looms around the corner and with each passing day, Marui's mother bugs her more and more often about going shopping for her dorm.

"And you need to begin to organize your things," her mother adds. "It's not like you can just drive home if you forget something. You're moving four hours away. You need to be ready."

"Can we talk about this later? I have work."

Her mother sighs. "Will you be home for dinner?"

"Yukimura's having a bonfire at the beach behind his house. We'll talk tomorrow, promise!"

Marui heads out the door before her mom can get another word in. She walks to the bus station, leaning against the overhang while she waits for her bus to show up. She texts Niou without thinking.

my friends and I are having a party tonight. wanna come?

The bus pulls up at the same time her phone vibrates.

Only if it's a date

Marui hangs out at the smoothie shack with Kirihara after work. After the sun sets, she helps him close shop and they head towards the beach together. They pick up Niou outside of her hotel and catch a bus to the far side of the beach, down by the residential houses. The beach outside of the tourist hotels is nothing more than a plot of sand. Here, there's wild grass and enormous piles of driftwood, and seaweed catches between your toes. It's not the commercialized beach expensive hotels promote. It's the beach for people who live on the coast.

They smell the fire before they see it, the flames rising up high and the smoke higher still. There's a group of twenty or so people sitting, and laughing, and dancing around the haphazardly made bonfire. Kirihara spots Yukimura and Jackal near a cooler of cheap beer and runs over. Marui and Niou aren't far behind.

"Everyone, this is Niou," Marui says, gesturing to Niou. "Niou, this is everyone."

"Glad to see you're alive," Yukimura says. "Do you want a beer?"

"Yes," Niou says, sounding like she could moan. Marui wishes she would. "I haven't had a beer since I got here."

"Obviously Marui hasn't been showing you a good time," Jackal says.

Marui rolls her eyes. "You can all suck my dick."

Someone begins blaring music on an old boom box. A couple of s'mores and one, two, three beers later and Marui is not even bothering to pretend to be interested in anyone but Niou.

Niou dances in the light of the fire, arms raised in the air and body moving with the music. Her shorts barely cover her ass and her breasts move freely under her shirt without the restraint of a bra. She takes a long swig from her bottle of beer, swirls her hips, and makes a slow c'mere motion with her finger that Marui could never refuse. Niou's arms wrap loosely around Marui's neck, her body gradually drawing closer to the Marui until their breasts are rubbing together with every movement of their bodies.

"Have you lived here your whole life?" Niou asks over the music. Her fingers play with Marui's red hair.

"Everyone here has. We all grew up together; we went to this shitty little school half an hour away."

"Must be nice, being so close to the ocean." Niou sounds wistful. She smiles instead of smirks and looks out at the blanket of black past Marui's shoulder where the ocean is.

"Some people spend their whole lives without seeing the ocean," Marui says, "and I can't wait to get away from it. I want to see the mountains. I've never seen them before."

"Maybe I would feel the same if I lived here." Suddenly, Niou cocks her head to the side and Marui feels drunk but not from the liquor. "You should kiss me now." She flicks her half-empty beer into the fire and threads her long fingers into Marui's hair.

Marui kisses her and even the ocean goes silent.

Marui scans the ocean from her perch but sees nothing wrong so she lets her eyes settle on the surfer owning everyone else out there. Water tubes around her but she comes out unmarked, standing on her board like it's the top of the world. To her, it may very well be.

Niou climbs out of the water and up the lifeguard stand, holding on to the arms of the chair when she leans in to kiss Marui. Her tongue is gentle and her lips taste like the ocean. She pulls back and says, "I'm going back to my hotel for a bit. Call me when you're done here."

"It's a date."

Niou grins, kisses her again, and jumps down into the sand.

Hours later, Marui calls Niou and they go to the arcade filled with kids, some local but most tourists, and compete to see who is better at skee-ball. By the time they decide they're equally skilled, a small crowd of kids has gathered around to watch them and strips of red tickets tangle around their ankles. Marui scoops up the tickets and heads towards the exchange counter. Niou comes up behind her, her breasts pressing into Marui's back. Marui puts all of the tickets on the counter and points to the highest shelf where the giant stuffed animals are.

"I want the tiger," she says.

"How dare you think someone my age would want a giant stuffed tiger." Marui whirls around and frowns at her. Then Niou grins, grabs Marui by the hips, and says, "I want the giant stuffed lion—much more regal."

Marui laughs, twisting around to tell the employee, "I changed my mind. I want the lion."

The thing must weigh a ton, but Niou insists on carrying it on her back down the boardwalk. Marui buys them two giant soft ice-cream cones and they sit on a bench—Marui, Niou, then the giant stuffed lion. Marui licks ice-cream from Niou's nose and Niou kisses it off her lips.

The bonfire crackles in the distance, the light barely reaching where they've spread their blanket. Niou lies with her head on Marui's stomach, their arms stretched up above their bodies as they intertwine their fingers and gaze up at the stars. Their hands fit together like they were meant to hold the other's.

"You can't see the stars where I live," Niou says, dropping their joined hands to her stomach. Marui rubs her thumb against the back of Niou's hand. "Are you staying here? You said you wanted to leave."

"I'm going to college this fall. I'm living on campus and I'll finally be away from this place. I can't wait."

Niou makes the same low, vibrating home in the back of her throat that she made when they first met. Marui is close enough to feel it.

"What about you?" Marui asks.

"I'm going away too. Not far from home, but far enough. I don't know anyone where I'm going."

"Neither do I. Isn't it exciting?"

Niou turns and gets up, straddling Marui's waist and grinning. "I know something more exciting that could happen right now. It involves your mouth and my tongue." Marui smiles and leans up to meet her lips halfway.

Marui spends the day shopping with her mom and dad for college things, and the day after that, Niou says her mom is making her spend time with her family. Marui almost forgot Niou is here on vacation.

But when they're finally able to meet up again, it feels like everything is right with the world. They feed cheap fries to the seagulls and pester Kirihara for free smoothies, drinking them as they check out a local surf shop. Niou runs her hand down the length of a red longboard hanging on the wall, staring at it with huge eyes, obviously pleased with it. Marui is more interested by the girl than the surfboard.

An employee walks up to them and nods approvingly at Niou's choice. "Nice eye," he says. "That's a good board. You looking to buy?"

"Longboards aren't really my style. I like my gun, but my fish isn't bad either."

"All depends on the wave. You ever tried a shortboard?"

"Wiped out, got caught up in the tide. Knocked my head on some guy's board and got a bloody nose."

The guy laughs. "Nice, nice. We just got some good ones in stock if you ever feel like trying again. I recognize most of the locals and you ain't one. How long are you staying? In fall, we get some gnarly waves."

Niou shrugs. "Maybe I'll check out boards other time." Niou turns and grab Marui's hand, landing them out of the store.

"We could have stayed and looked," Marui says. Niou shakes her head and clutches Marui's hand tightly. Marui frowns. "What's wrong?"

"I leave in two weeks."

They walk aimlessly and slowly down the boardwalk.

Niou kisses Marui good-bye for twenty minutes outside of her hotel, clinging to her waist, fingers on her ribs and hips pressed as close as they can be but it's not enough. Niou radiates a warm heat as if she's soaked in the sun and made it a part of her. When Marui thinks that she is finally ready to part, Niou pulls her impossibly closer and says, "Stay with me tonight."

They grab a blanket and a lantern, and take a bus down to the real beach. Marui feels the sand all around her when Niou makes love to her; the waves roar in her ears and their voices are drowned by the sea.

They spend the rest of their days together, pretending they'll never have to be apart, that whatever they have going has a chance of working for more than a few short weeks. They act like each kiss is their last. One day, it is their last.

People come to the oceanside for a few days, maybe a few weeks at a time, but living there is different than visiting. Just as a new face becomes familiar, it leaves, and the friends and lovers that Marui finds during the summer never last.

And just as the tide ebbs and disappears, so does Niou.

Marui only wishes it didn't hurt to see her go.

On Marui's last day of work, she's ambushed in the lifeguard shack. Yukimura brings a cake and Jackal brings pointy party hats that look ridiculous when paired with their red swimsuits. But it's the first time that Marui has smiled and laughed since Niou left, and the cake is delicious. They take her down to the beach near Yukimura's house where they drink cheap beer and sit with their asses in the water, laughing about old times and promising to keep in touch.

"Summer isn't over yet," Marui reminds them. "I still have a few more weeks."

"It's over," Yukimura says with a nostalgic smile. "But there's always next year."

Jackal raises his beer. "I'll drink to that."

They toast and laugh when the tide overcomes them and sweeps them out. They play in the ocean like kids until the sun goes down.

Fall comes and Marui finally leaves the beach for the mountains. Her dorm room overlooks the rolling hills of her new, temporary home and the air does not remotely smell of salt and sand. Grass is softer than crushed seashells and people look at her strangely when she walks barefoot across the quad. She never thought she would miss the sand so much but now that she does, she regrets ever leaving. Her first night away from home, she sits on her bed with a conch shell pressed to her ear and pretends she's back at the beach.

Marui dresses in layers for her first day of classes because the air is cooler and the sun hides behind dull dray clouds. She lost her map when she unpacked but does not ask for directions. She wanders the halls of the English building in search of her classroom, eventually finding it and taking a seat in the middle of the large lecture hall. She takes out her laptop, smiling briefly at her background, a cheesy picture of her with Yukimura, Jackal, and Kirihara at the bonfire they had before summer ended.

Her phone vibrates against the table and she picks it up to silence it before lecture starts. She feels like she's being sucked into a riptide when she sees who sent her the message—Niou.

The message is short and Marui feels like she's the one drowning.

Turn around