Title: Beach Stroll
Author: indehed
Fandom: Eastenders
Pairing: Christian/Syed
Warnings/Spoilers: This story portrays a canon homosexual relationship between two men,
Summary: Christian and Syed have a stroll down a beach on a weekend away from Walford.
They strolled, hand in hand, as they walked down the Front. Both men had their eyes to the right, over the sand of the beach and out to the water that was slowly churning forward in the early evening light.
There were no families left on the beach, just people walking dogs or couples enjoying a walk after dinner, which is exactly what they were doing right now. It was early enough that the sun was still out and still providing a nice heat to the evening, but late enough that young, exhausted kids were already in bed somewhere.
"I can see us now, a few years down the road, being here with kids." Christian mused. "A family holiday rather than a couples retreat."
"Buckets and spades and sand in places we didn't realise existed." Syed answered back with a smile.
"Sometimes I surprise myself that I want these things. Time was the idea sickened me. Was just fooling myself, though."
"I guess you grew up. Better late than never." Syed nudged Christian's arm as they walked.
"I'm not that old." Christian pouted.
"Or that grown up."
"Oi! You're going to get a smacking if you're not careful." Christian laughed and Syed just wiggled his eyebrows in response.
"Come on," he said, and pulled Christian over to the wall of the promenade. Although it was only about a foot or so off the concrete slabs, the jump down onto the beach was about four times the height. Christian let Syed pull him along by his hand and Syed counted them off to three before they jumped down, stumbling slightly as they landed on the sand underneath.
"5.2," Christian said. "Nice technique but you lost it a little on the dismount."
"At least my technique is up to scratch."
"Always." Christian drew Syed into a hug and they stood there for a moment, the wall flanking them from the soft breeze. Syed leaned up to kiss Christian but he pulled back. "You had garlic in that pasta, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Syed answered and Christian pulled a face. A grin slowly spread on Syed face and instead he moved his hands from behind Christian's shoulders to his face and grabbed hold of him, pulling him into a kiss before Christian had a chance to stop him. After he let him go, Christian theatrically pulled an 'ew' face and wiped a hand over his lips.
Syed let go of Christian and leaned down, taking his shoes and socks off and he rolled up the bottom of his jeans so that they wouldn't scrape behind him in the sand. Christian followed suit, while grumbling about the tastes clashing in his mouth right now.
"Stop your moaning," Syed shut him up. "When we get to the corner of the beach down there, that's where that ice cream shop is. We can stop in there and get you a tasty treat."
"I was hoping for a tasty treat when we got back to the hotel."
"You might get one there too if you play your cards right." Syed held both his shoes in one hand and put his other around Christian's waist. They walked down to the water, arm in arm and turned as they walked so that they were still on the dry sand as they wandered together. "We should come back down here tomorrow during the day. The weather's supposed to be nice. We could go swimming in the ocean."
"Why not go in now?" Christian asked.
"Because it's probably freezing."
"Is that why you're avoiding the waves coming in right now?" Christian looked like he was about to do something evil, but there was no answer to that question Syed could give that didn't make him sound like a complete coward.
Christian didn't even give him a chance to answer. Yhe problem with being arm in arm already was that you were already 'caught' by the other person. So there was no chance of escape. Christian used his free hand to grab around Syed's stomach properly and he propelled them both further down and into the water, all the while, Syed tried to push him away and repeated the word 'no', getting more and more high-pitched the closer to the water he got as Christian just laughed at him.
Before they knew it, they were knee-deep in the water, with their jeans soaking up the ocean water like sponges. The moment Christian let go of Syed to double over laughing, he had a splash come his way as Syed swept his foot, shoving the water over. Christian was able to turn just in time and the water cascaded over the back of thighs and lower back instead.
"You did not just do that." Christian warned.
"Uh-oh." Syed answered, his eyes widening in alarm and after a brief staring contest between them, like two gunslingers about to quick draw in a western, Christian lunged forward and Syed retreated and began to run through the water. Rather stupidly he didn't try to run back to shore but instead kept trying to get through the water and along the beach. Both were hampered by the need to raise their legs through the water and kept splashing around anyway, which seemed to defeat the purpose of their entire play fight.
Syed turned and made it back to the water that was only about ankle deep when the waves retreated back, and he was able to get a bit more speed as he ran. Trying to avoid a big string of sea weed, he jumped over it and stumbled, giving Christian just enough time to catch up to him. Because it was an unexpected victory, he tackled Syed like a rugby player and they both tumbled down in a mess of limbs just as a wave came in again.
As the wave once more receded, it left behind two men now soaked head to toe. Syed's hair was plastered to his head along with the very sea weed he'd tried to avoid. As Christian propped himself up on his elbow and Syed pushed himself up to a sitting position, Christian reached out and plucked the offending plant from Syed's head and threw it back up the beach.
He took one look at Syed's slightly disgusted face and burst into hysterics. As another wave came up to them, Christian tried to scramble further up the beach before it hit but he only made it a few feet and still got hit by it anyway.
"Why did you even bother? You're already soaked through." Syed had remained where he was, finding it pointless to escape the water now. "Besides, I think you just proved my point too. This water is pretty cold."
"No it's not. It's... brisk!"
"Urgh." Syed turned onto his knees and made his way to where Christian was. He pushed Christian onto his back and then straddled him. Drops from his hair fell onto Christian's face and he just grinned slyly, not caring, while Christian tried to push Syed's hair back to stop it from happening.
As a wave coiled around them, Christian looked up at Syed, "This is a bit 'From Here to Eternity' is it not?"
Syed shrugged. "This isn't Hawaii, and you're not Burt Lancaster." He then slapped Christian' shoulder, "And I'm not Deborah Kerr!"
"Shame. I'd much prefer to be here with Deborah Kerr."
"Shut up."
"Make me." Christian grinned.
Syed leaned down and as yet another wave made it's way over and around their bodies, their lips met. Syed breathed in everything around him and relaxed on top of Christian to let their bodies join closer to try and stop the cold seeping too much into him. Their mouths opened and tongues tangled together. Christian's hand weaved into Syed's hair and held to the back of his head and Syed ran the back of his hand over Christian's cheek before cupping his raised his knee to get some purchase in the sand with his foot, all the while, he never wavered in his attention to Syed's lips. They pulled apart, but not before a few playful nips at each others' mouths, weaning themselves off their own kisses. Christian pushed his body up with his elbows, their wet clothing sticking to each others' between them and captured Syed's lips again with a moan, not wanting the moment to end just yet.
He spoke softly against Syed's lips, "God, I love you." Sometimes he surprised himself with just how much he loved Syed, and it was always at the strangest times, like this, as they lay on a beach at dusk snogging the faces off each other, that he'd get that heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach, the drumming in his heart would beat out of his chest and the blood would rush through his ears like thunder and that's when such words always came out of his mouth.
"I love you, too." Syed answered. "Even when you annoy me."
Their foreheads came together and their chests rose and fall as they panted for breath.
"Maybe we should skip the ice cream and get back to the hotel."
"I like the sound of that." Syed answered, opening his eyes and looking right into Christian's that were blackened with need.
The waves that had, until now, been quite gentle as they washed up and around them suddenly changed. As they lay there in their own bubble, one massive, white-foamed wave crashed over the back of Syed's body and drenched them anew. Syed gasped, sitting up ramrod straight, as the cold of the water once more covered his entire body and Christian tried not to shake with the laughter bubbling up from inside him.
"Come on, let's go before we catch a cold." Christian rolled from underneath Syed and they both struggled to stand as the water moved around them. Christian clasped his hand with Syed's again and they took off at a run back up the beach, pulling their trainers on as fast as they could, they leapt back over the wall and took off at a run back to their seaside hotel.
"Keep up, slow poke!" Christian shot off in the lead.
"My legs are shorter than yours!"
"That's such a bad excuse as well as a load of rubbish!" Christian turned and jogged backwards for a few steps as Syed caught up again. "The sooner we get to our room, the sooner we can cuddle up in fluffy hotel bath robes..."
At the thought, Syed took off much faster, leaving Christian behind. He chuckled lightly then bolted after Syed.