緣分
Yuanfen – Chinese
A relationship by fate or destiny.
Keith hated the beach. He'd much rather be indoors catching up on his much needed rest or something equally boring. Why was he even here? He never should have agreed to coming with Shiro. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
His day had been pretty terrible from the start. No, not even the start, from yesterday. It wasn't his fault he forgot about the physics exam. He just forgot a lot of things. Life was stressful, it happened to everyone. Just not as often as it did to Keith. Thank god Shiro reminded him in time, so he managed to cram an hour before the exam. Hopefully it would be enough to get him a pass. Honestly, he was surprised he was still at the top of his class despite how his performance seemed to be deteriorating faster than his messed up sleep schedule.
All that aside, he didn't have to worry anymore. Today was the first day of the break.
Keith had planned on doing nothing but sleeping. The pale-skinned boy's intention was to not get out of bed at all, save for when he wanted to eat something. Unfortunately, Shiro and his friend Matt, had planned on going to the beach. And when Shiro saw Keith still in bed, he yanked off the covers like the annoying brother Keith had never wanted.
(In that one moment,or more like one of many, many moments, Keith briefly considered committing fratricide, then decided it would be too much work.)
Since Shiro could do anything he set his mind to, he managed to pull Keith out of bed (unceremoniously dumping him on the floor, Keith might add), got him to change into a clean t-shirt and shorts, and dragged him to the beach.
They met up with Matt's younger sister Katie, who went by Pidge (which Keith never quite understood). Pidge had gone into the water with one of her friends (Hunk was it?). They seemed to be having a water fight of some kind. Keith had been sitting underneath the umbrella on their blankets (not sulking like Shiro said), when Shiro and Matt insisted on him coming for a walk with them down the beach. So here he was, Matt and Shiro walking a little way ahead of him.
Keith wasn't interested in whatever they were talking about (Space? Some future exploratory missions on some moon called Kerberos?). Instead he was creating a list of exactly why he hated the beach to keep himself distracted from how much today sucked. It was way too sunny. He mused. Why was it so bright? And the people. There were so many people. As Keith walked, he grimaced at the feeling of the gritty sand between his toes. Sand. Just all the sand. It was coarse, rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Honestly, could anything be worse?
Before he make his mental list longer, a stabbing pain went through his foot. Frowning, he stopped to see what it was. Then he saw the sand underneath his foot getting stained red. Dammit, he thought to himself. I knew I shouldn't have left my shoes with the blankets. He sighed to himself. This is what he gets for walking barefoot on the beach.
That's when Shiro and Matt come back. Apparently they finally noticed he wasn't walking with them anymore.
"Hey Keith what—" Shiro stopped talking when he noticed the blood. "Is that blood? Keith, what did you do now?"
Keith shrugged. "I'm not the one who wanted to come to the beach. And this isn't my fault, I blame the beach. It hates me and the feeling is mutual."
Matt gives him an 'are-you-serious' look. "That doesn't even make sense."
"Yes, it does. You just don't understand my logic." Keith replies.
"Because your logic isn't logical!" Matt protested.
Shiro shakes his head. "Nevermind. Just sit down so we can see what's wrong with your foot."
Keith complies. Shiro examines his foot and says, "You stepped on a broken shell. The shell isn't stuck in your foot now, but you're bleeding."
"Oh, really? What gave it away?" Keith deadpans, just as Matt says, "No shit, Sherlock."
They exchange smirks, as Shiro rolls his eyes. This is one of the things they have in common. It's a wonder Shiro can put up with their smartass comments. Then again, he deals with Pidge, who has more sass than Keith and Matt combined.
"Anyway," Shiro says, "You'll have to wash it out to make sure it doesn't get infected. You'll live."
When Keith tries to go for the sea water though, both Matt and Shiro stop him.
"What are you, crazy?" Matt asks, then reconsiders. "No wait, stupid question. You obviously are."
"Hey, I know nothing about First Aid okay? Besides what else do you want me to use?" Keith retorts.
Shiro steps in before they can start arguing with each other. "There's some clean water back at the umbrella. You stay here, I'll go get it."
And with that he's gone.
And so they wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Still waiting.
Keith cranes his neck to look down the beach in the direction Shiro ran. Honestly, how long does it take to get some water?
He turns to Matt.
"How long has he been gone?"
Matt checks his watch. "Um… three minutes."
Keith's impatience wins over his desire to listen to Shiro's instructions (the desire that was pretty much non-existent to begin with).
"Screw it," he says, and heads for the ocean once again.
"No!" Matt says, grabbing his arm to prevent him from going any farther. "Salty ocean water will only make it worse."
"So what do you want me to do then? I'll bleed out on this beach before Shiro gets back."
"Oh, stop being dramatic," Matt says with an exasperated sigh and one of his signature eye rolls, a trait that Pidge managed to inherit.
Keith watches him dig through his bag. Moments later, Matt pulls out a can labelled Arizona Iced Tea, a triumphant smile crossing his face.
"Ah ha!" he exclaims.
"Ah ha?" Keith repeats. "What am I supposed to do with iced tea? And why do you even have iced tea? It's disgusting."
"Don't insult my iced tea." Matt replies, cradling the can, as though he were shielding it from Keith's insults. "Besides, it's better than salty ocean water."
Keith takes the can and thinks, whatever. He opens the can and pours it over his bloody foot.
It doesn't sting as much as he thought it would, surprisingly. Looks like Matt's ideas weren't all that bad after all. The cool drink is actually kind of soothing. And, well, Keith figures, after being forced to the beach, injuring his foot and washing out said injury with a sugary drink, his day can't get any worse, right?
Wrong.
Dead wrong.
Because Keith is caught pouring aforementioned sugary drink over his bloody foot by the hottest lifeguard ever and he only notices when the lifeguard asks, with a weird look "Um… do you need anything, hermano? 'Cuz I don't think iced tea is the best to wash out a cut with."
And Keith's brain short circuits. Because, goddamn, the guy standing in front of him is hella good looking. He's slightly taller than Keith, lean, not over-the-top muscular. He looks Cuban, with gorgeous caramel skin and brown hair. He's only in blue swim shorts and oh Keith hasn't replied yet so Keith's stupidstupidstupidgayass stammers out the first reply he can think of.
"You."
And wow, he has never felt more awkward in his life. His day just went from the worst to the end of the fucking world, and boy does Keith wish he could sink into the sand and disappear forever.
Luckily for him though, the guy only laughs. He hands him the bottle of water he was holding after scribbling something on it and finally manages to stop laughing enough to reply. "I think I'll take you up on that offer, Mullet."
And with that he walks away, leaving Keith standing on one foot, holding the water bottle in one hand and the can of iced tea, which is still pouring out onto the sand, in the other.
Only a few minutes later, when Shiro comes back and Matt is still cackling (looking at the pictures he took of Keith turning into a human tomato) does Keith look down at the bottle which has something written on the paper label:
905 573 8861
Call me :)
A/N:
So, that was fun to write. I found this post (sunbellas . tumblr post/159793890492/one-time-when-i-was-at-the-beach-with-my-friend-i) while scrolling through my dashboard and I couldn't resist. Let me know what you guys think, feedback makes my life better. I'm thinking about continuing it, if people are interested. It's also posted on ao3, quotev, deviantart and my writing tumblr.
xeno