A/N 24/08/2020:
To my American readers: 30° Celsius = 86° Farenheit :p
I planned out my fic so I'd be able to post the last chapter on the 24th of august, since that's the birthday of the BEST BETA EVEEEEER! Happy birthday my dearest Annemoon! I love you a lot and I hope you enjoyed your day, even if the circumstances weren't what we'd have prefered. Please go check out her work at AnneLilian!
"We go together - better than birds of a feather, you and me"
"Hurry up, Chikara!"
Ennoshita lets out a little 'oof' as the helmet Tanaka just tossed him hits him square in the chest, causing him to drop his bag.
"Would it hurt not throwing objects at my face the second you see me?" he huffs, slightly annoyed.
Tanaka's smile turns guilty, but only a little – his excitement for their trip seemingly too big to be dragged down by something as insignificant as almost giving one of your best friends a black eye.
"Have fun, boys."
"Thanks, Ennoshita-san!"
Chikara turns and fixates his mother with wide eyes – silently trying to force her back inside, where she can't make any embarrassing remarks. Her soft smile quirks up into the tiniest of grins, invisible to Tanaka as she looks up at her son with a gaze that is creepily knowing.
She gives a soft push against his stomach. "Go on now, Chikara, don't keep the boy waiting."
He ducks to grab his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he clutches the helmet under his left arm. He bends his head to give his mother a kiss to the cheek, shooting her a last distrustful glace as he walks down to where Ryuu stands waiting.
Tanaka greets him with a grin that beams just as bright as the polished metal of his motorcycle. It's a second-hand piece, largely sponsored by his sister after he'd aced the tests for his licence. She had called it 'a late birthday present', and Ennoshita quietly resents and respects her for it at the same time. No gift he could give Tanaka in the future will ever be able to match this one. Tanaka loves his bike with a passion only rivalled by his adoration for volleyball.
Ennoshita's mother stands watching as they secure the bag on one of the tiny luggage carriers at the back of the bike, her laughter at Chikara's attempt to climb up on the little space behind the driver's seat ringing through the air. He's almost glad for the distraction of her snorts as Tanaka leans in close to fix the clasps securing Chikara's helmet. At least this way no one suspects why he's really blushing. Well. No one aside from his mother, maybe.
As if on cue, she chooses that exact moment to shout: "I'd like it if you brought back my son to me alive, Tanaka-kun. Please take care of him!"
"I sure will, Ennoshita-san! I'll make sure he stays safe, and-"
"Shut the fuck up and lets go," Chikara hisses. His cheeks burn like they're on fire as he leans back so Tanaka can climb on the bike in front of him. He desperately wants to bury his face into Ryuu's strong back. It seems like the perfect way to hide his embarrassment from everyone, including himself, but he is unable to do just that because of the helmet shielding his face.
"Hold on tight, Chika!" Tanaka's muffled voice sounds in front of him as Ryuu starts up the engine.
Chikara obeys, grasping Tanaka's waist more tightly as the motorcycle vibrates to life underneath their thighs. He's suddenly overwhelmed by a flurry of butterflies in his stomach as Tanaka slightly revs the engine, not all of them caused by the boy currently pressed into his chest. He wonders, for the 30th time that day, if this really is as good of an idea as Tanaka made it sound.
'It's not a good idea to let yourself think that this feels strongly like a-.' He pushes the thought to the back of his mind, just like all the other times he stopped to consider this particular decision the last two weeks – focussing on Tanaka's delighted laugh instead, as the bike starts to move forward. The both of them yell back a last goodbye to Ennoshita's mother, Chikara too nervous to wave, even with the slow speed at which they're moving away from the curb.
The engine roars, and they're off.
It turns out that driving for about two hours on a black motorcycle was much harder than Ennoshita had estimated. His legs feel like they belong to an entirely different person when he finally stumbles more than climbs off of the bike. He's happy he agreed with Tanaka's plea to leave earlier in the morning instead of around noon – he doesn't want to imagine how it would have felt to be stuck in traffic underneath the burning midday sun while on that bike. To be fair; he probably could have helped himself by relaxing a little instead of clenching his thighs during the whole ride in an effort to hold on to the bike.
He hobbles to the side awkwardly as Tanaka opens their carrier bags and takes out the food and their rucksacks. He has to show Chikara several times how to remove the clasps to take off his helmet before the captain finally succeeds, taking the helmet Ennoshita offers him proudly with a grin.
Chikara ignores his whining thighs to pick up two of the bags Ryuu set to the side earlier, while Tanaka starts shoving the helmets into the now empty compartments, locking them up when he's done. It takes them a couple of minutes to collect their stuff and check if the motorcycle is secured safely, but after that it's just a six-minute walk to get where they need to be.
Tanaka lets out a content groan, mirrored on his right by Ennoshita's happy sigh as he lets his toes sink into the warm sand, wriggling them a little until he's buried up to his ankles.
"'m glad we didn't arrive in the afternoon. I probably would've burned the skin off my feet if I just stepped out on the beach like this."
Chikara hums his agreement, too busy taking deep breaths of the clean sea air to answer aloud. The sound of lapping waves rushing in the distance almost puts him in some sort of trance when he closes his eyes, focused entirely on the nature surrounding them.
Chikara can't hold in his yell when he opens his eyes and sees Tanaka's inquisitive stare only centimetres from his own. He tries to step back, and, forgetting that he buried himself up to his ankles, flails spectacularly as he falls backwards and crashes into the sand.
Tanaka stares at him, stunned for a second before bursting out into guffaws. "You sure you don't want to sit a little closer to the sea, Chika?"
Chikara glares up at his friend as he pulls his feet from their sandy confinement and crawls back upright again. He can feel grains of sand fall from his hair and slip underneath the neck of his shirt. It's extremely uncomfortable.
"You ass!" He curses, with feeling. "What the hell were you doing?"
"I was just going to ask if you wanted to choose where we'll go sit?"
"Yeah, and you needed to do that standing nose to nose?"
"Obviously."
Ennoshita gives up, lacking the energy to try to explain the gaps in Tanaka's logic when the man himself doesn't seem bothered in the slightest.
Tanaka ends up carrying all the bags in an effort to get Ennoshita to stop grumbling, which ends up working like a charm. He stands to the side when they find a good spot to lay down, looking like a human coat-hanger with all their baggage hanging off of him as he patiently waits while Ennoshita takes out some of the towels.
It seems like Tanaka prepared anything Chikara could have possibly thought of. He watches the ace open one of the bags and pull out; a parasol, some books, a small board game, sunscreen, a beach volleyball, …
"Do you plan on staying here, or?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to live here from now on, or what?" Chikara asks, his laughter seeping through his question as he stares at all the things Tanaka keeps pulling from his bags.
Tanaka falters, clearly second-guessing his decision to bring 'everything that wasn't welded to the floor of his bedroom' with them. "I… wanted to make sure you wouldn't get bored?" he tries, a little uncertain.
"You-" Chikara's already droopy eyes close even further at the unexpected wave of fondness that washes over him. "We're friends, you idiot? I came here with you – you're supposed to be the entertainment. Not that I don't appreciate all this – it's nice."
"Ah, well… Can't be too sure, I guess."
Ennoshita huffs a breath of laughter as Tanaka seems to decide against pulling out all the other things he took with them, turning towards the cooler that's holding their food instead.
A shift in movement reminds Chikara of all the sand currently gathered underneath his shirt, grinding against his skin ever since his earlier fall in the dunes. He uses the time Ryuu is taking out their lunch to rid himself of his shirt and pull a bottle of sunscreen from his own bag. He'd use Ryuunosuke's, but Ennoshita is the type of guy who turns red more than tanned, sadly enough, so he needs a different brand.
He lets his head fall back when he starts putting some protection on his collarbones and throat. He's almost done rubbing the sunscreen into the skin of his upper throat and chin when Tanaka suddenly stutters to a halt in the middle of his sentence. Chikara moves his head forward from where he'd let it hang back, curious to see what made him stop.
"What?" he asks, when he spots nothing out of the ordinary. He looks down quickly when he notices Tanaka staring unblinkingly at his chest, a sudden sense of foreboding reminding him that if he accidentally left some sunscreen on his nipples, or something equally as embarrassing, this moment may turn into the bud of some very stupid jokes in the near future.
"What?" he asks again, self-conscious.
Tanaka seems to come back to his senses, blinking quickly a couple of times before asking: "you want some help or?"
"Sure, thanks. What made you look like-?"
"Ah, it's nothing," Ryuu says smoothly, waving his hand through the air. "Didn't know we were taking off our clothes this soon.
"It's 30°C?" Ennoshita frowns, "and the inside of my shirt held about as much sand as the Sahara desert. I'm actually kind of surprised you're still wearing yours, you know, with your track record during practice."
"I guess I forgot," Tanaka shrugs, reaching for the bottle next to Chikara's thigh. "Come on, turn around. I'll do your back if you do mine."
Despite saying all this, Tanaka waits until after he put sunscreen onto his face, legs and arms before taking off his shirt – strangely modest as he rids himself of the fabric in silence. For some reason, the situation feels a lot more charged when he takes off his shirt without hollering about like an idiot.
Chikara feels like a professional poker player when he watches Ryuu undress and waits for him to turn around with a straight face, a dot of sunscreen ready in the palm of his hand. If the fact that Tanaka likes to take off his shirt so often has one advantage, other than the obvious, then it is the fact that Chikara got used to working around a half-naked Tanaka without blushing in the slightest.
He takes care of rubbing the sunscreen into Tanaka's skin in quick and efficient sweeps, unwilling to touch his friend more than he needs to. He knows he isn't doing any of this with ill intentions, but the fact that Tanaka doesn't know about his crush makes him feel creepy, so he finishes the job as quickly as possible without seeming weird about it.
They have lunch straight after, which Ennoshita slightly regrets when he notices he accidentally smeared some leftover sunscreen on his food. After lunch, they wait for their food to go down before going for a swim – listening to music or just talking in the meantime. Their time spent waiting lengthens by almost an hour when Tanaka all but threatens Chikara into letting him buy them both some ice cream, arguing it was only fair since Chikara made both their lunches.
Chikara is feeling stitches in his side by the time he slumps down onto his towel again. He is greeted with a smug: "beat your ass two times in a row, now", from Tanaka, who lays panting on his own towel – an opened bottle of water in his hand.
"You cheated," Chikara says drowsily, the heat and his exhaustion catching up with him almost immediately after his head touches the fabric.
"Slander! Show me your proof, coward!"
Tanaka had been walking backwards in the direction of the water, talking to Ennoshita and laughing at him because 'he was speechless because of Ryuu's amazing humour'. In truth, Ennoshita had been speechless because the image of a laughing Tanaka with the backdrop of the ocean was nothing less of magnificent, which he, oddly enough, failed to mention. He had cursed his distraction for putting him off-kilter when Tanaka had used that exact moment to start 'racing him to the sea', gaining a head start that turned out to be insurmountable as they ran towards the waves.
Chikara reaches for the bottle of water, drinking half of it in one go in an effort to distract himself from Tanaka, who has started reapplying sunscreen after their time in the water. Parts of his skin are still glistening – the drops sparkling like diamonds as the sun reflects off of them.
"Thirsty?" Tanaka asks slyly.
Ennoshita nearly chokes on his water in his effort to answer as fast as possible.
"Huh?" he coughs.
Tanaka's laugh seems to echo off of the sky itself. "Thirsty?" he repeats, amusement still clearly audible in his voice. "You drank, like, ¾ of that bottle in one go."
"Ah, yeah – I guess I am," Chikara mumbles tiredly – exhaustion crashing over him a second time now that the rush of adrenaline starts to slow down and he is no longer choking. He must have imagined the intonation, the first time. There's no way Tanaka would've asked him in that tone if he had known how correct his statement was.
The rest of the afternoon seems to go by in a flash. One second they're playing volleyball in the sand – which turns out to be much harder than expected – the next they've gone to a shop to buy some bento for dinner, and right after that they decide to chill at the shore, talking as they watch the sunset dye the sky in the prettiest of colours.
"I'm just saying – there's no way of knowing whether or not we're living in a computer simulation, like in the Matrix," Tanaka says conspiratorially, his mouth quirking at Ennoshita's easy grin.
"I… don't… know…" Chikara says slowly. "If that's the logic you choose to follow, then you could just as well say that everything around you is a figment of your own imagination, and it's basically all a dream."
It doesn't take Tanaka long to disagree. "Nah, that doesn't sound right. I don't think I-… Nah."
They've planted their butts onto the sand where it's still wet, but where they won't be reached by the water, leaning back against their bags and enjoying the way the waves tap against their toes every couple of seconds, tiny waves reaching to wet their calves at most. They've agreed to wait and watch the sunset until it's gone, spending their time holding mock philosophy debates, which turned interesting rather faster than expected.
"You can't say that?" Ennoshita argues. "There's no difference at all with what you were saying – you wouldn't know?"
Tanaka ignores him, avoiding his gaze by staring out over the ocean instead. He looks oddly serious. It's a strange sight, combined with the way the water and the sunset get reflected in his eyes.
"Give one argument, then, a single one?" Ennoshita pauses for barely a second, cheering when Tanaka doesn't reply to his taunt. "See?! I knew you didn't have one, so you have to admit that my theory is just as likely as-"
"I was… I was gonna say…" Tanaka starts. He sounds like he's dreaming – his tone far off as he stares into the distance.
"Yes…?" Ennoshita says, ready to break down the next argument he gets thrown his way.
"I was going to say… that I don't think it can be imagination. I don't think I could've come up with you."
There's a moment of silence before Ryuunosuke looks up in surprise at the way Ennoshita breaks down laughing. "Don't laugh at me, you jackass!"
Chikara is laughing so hard that it takes a while for him to get his words out, and even then he's still wheezing after every couple of syllables. He tries again when he has caught his breath, hiccupping slightly when he says: "Did you pull that one from a book of one-liners? You don't have to flatter me, Ryuu. I'm, like, the most normal guy of our whole team, probably." He has to focus on his message to keep himself from dissolving into a fit of laughter again. "You want me to believe that out of everyone-, that I'm someone you'd have trouble coming up with? You know that that's not realistic in the slightest-?"
"That's not true, what the fuck?"
The anger on Ryuunosuke's face sends such a burst of shock through Chikara's body that it almost feels like it physically hit him, stunning him momentarily as he waits for Tanaka to continue, bewildered.
"What the fuck are you thinking? Don't say shit like that about yourself? It's not true at all! I don't-… You're…" He falls silent, both of them staring at each other. Ennoshita's gaze slides from the way Ryuu's chest rises in quick, agitated breaths, to his face – the tension clear in his brows and the corner of his lips. His eyes seem to dance all over Chikara's face – searching for something, hesitant.
Ennoshita can almost hear the puzzle pieces falling into place.
'Oh.' He thinks.
He doesn't feel like laughing at all when he, with a lurch to his stomach, realizes that maybe, just maybe…
The sea continues to lap at their feet as Ennoshita sees Tanaka for what feels like the first time. Sees the way his cheeks burn red because of his blush and the light of the sunset alike. The stronger Tanaka's blush grows, the calmer Chikara starts to feel. Calm enough to ask: "Is this… Ryuu, is this a date?"
"How would you… react if I told you I wanted it to be one? Hypothetically speaking, of course."
"Hypothetically… I guess my hypothetical question to that answer would be why you didn't hypothetically ask me on a date outright?"
"I meant to ask, you know," Ryuu mumbles, immediately dropping all pretences, "immediately after I came up with the idea of this trip. I knew exactly how I was gonna ask it too, but I chickened out in the end."
"But then I thought," he says, suddenly revitalized, "that this was the far better option. 'Cause, you know… I know we've been friends for a long time, but this is kinda… different. Yeah. And I wanted to show you that dates with me could be- no, would be fun, and shit. No, I mean- and stuff! Anyway – I could show you that I'm not always too loud, or… and… What was I saying again?"
Before Ennoshita can do more than suck in a breath, Ryuu rants on again: "Right. About showing you a good time… I'm not always difficult? And I thought if we went on a not-date-date, then it would help? When I asked you on a date-date for real, I mean. You know, it would prove that you don't need to break your head about it too much – that we could have it good. If you want…?"
Chikara smiles. "I was going to-"
But Ryuu seems to get into some kind of panic when he realizes he forgot to share some details about his thought process. The words come tumbling from his lips quicker and quicker as he tries to convince Chikara still, after all these years of knowing each other.
"So I planned on asking you at night, when I dropped you off home. Cause I thought it was sweet, but not too sweet, since I don't know if you're romantic at all. And… well, you didn't really agree, earlier, but you also didn't tell me 'no' yet, so I'll take that as a good sign." He seems to deflate a little, like the release of all these words left him empty. It looks very cute, for a bald-headed 18 year old high school student who could probably kill a man by high fiving him too hard.
"It is a good sign," Chikara says, still too emotionally whiplashed from everything that happened the last couple of minutes to form a more logical response. 'Should he just say 'yes' now, or…?' "I guess I have one thing that I want to say before… Yes – just one, I guess. I'm… kinda thrown by the fact that you thought you needed to 'convince me' or something. That you felt the need to explain yourself, and 'why'… all this would be a good idea, even when I've known you for as long as I do."
He raises a finger when Ryuu starts to interrupt, determined to finish his thought before he forgets the point he was trying to make. "Do you really think that I didn't know all of this yet? That I wouldn't have caught on to the fact that it won't always be easy, for us? It's not that you're difficult, you just need… a different approach, maybe. But I don't care about any of that, Ryuu, I never have. Besides; every relationship has its difficulties. We'll work on ours when we get there. I'm sure we'll find a solution whenever we need one, even if our issues might be a little different from other couples. There's no need to panic before that time comes. And even if it does come; we'll get through it if we put the work in."
The cost of his own mortification at his speech combined with his red cheeks is still worth it, Chikara decides, as he stares at the way Ryuu's head has coloured a shade of red most people couldn't even imagine. He's starting to have some strange realizations about just how much he likes Ryuu blushing.
'I really could get used to this.'
"Now did you plan on asking me anything?" Chikara asks, sounding a lot braver than he feels.
Tanaka nods, a steely look returning to his eyes as he gathers his courage. All sounds of the sea and the seagulls seem to fall away when he opens his mouth and the question finally comes. "You know… Chikara, I like everything about you. I really do. And I was wondering if you wanted to go on a-?"
"Yes!" Chikara squeaks, too excited and nervous to let Tanaka finish his awkward mini confession or feel embarrassed about answering too soon. "Yes! Sure!"
They both grin like idiots, everything else forgotten until a larger wave suddenly spills over the edge of their tiny sand seats – soaking their shorts immediately. They scramble back with a yell, trying to save their belongings before the tides can wash them away.
They dry their feet before pushing them into their now squeaky shoes, the material wet and uncomfortable with seawater as they start their walk back to the motorcycle, leaving thin trails of salt water across the sand as they go.
Ennoshita has to concentrate on the things he's holding to not lose himself completely. He's so happy that he feels like he could take on the world and laugh. Like he could punch the sun and win. It's almost too good to be true. He licks his lips, well – maybe there's one thing… But it might be too much to ask if… Well. He'll be happy whatever answer he gets, it's not like they won't have other opportunities later.
"Hey Ryuu," he calls, causing the ace to look back from where he was walking a couple of feet ahead. His cheeks are still red. Chikara hastens his steps, waiting until he's right next to Tanaka before looking him in the eye and asking: "so this not-a-date-date, does it have the option of ending like some normal dates do? You know, when you drop me off at my front door and stuff? And… say goodbye?"
For a second he is worried he wasn't clear enough – but the way Ryuu's eyes widen, his gaze flickering down to Chikara's lips and back up repeatedly, shows he understood the meaning perfectly fine. "W-well, if you want to? Then that's… I- yeah, I think we could… I mean…"
"Or…" Chikara ads slyly, feeling drunk on the prospect of finally being able to kiss the boy he's been in love with for the past three years, "-or do you need to give me a speech, first? Or a slide show, on why it would be a good idea? To really get the point across, you know? In case I can't form my own opinion."
He grins so wide he is almost unable to see Ryuu's deadpan expression. "You're going to tease me about this forever, won't you?"
"Perhaps. Maybe so… Okay fine, yes – absolutely. But you chose this, remember?" he laughs, using his bag-laden hands to motion around the length of his own body. "Subscriptions can't be cancelled, I'm afraid. 'm sorry to say you'll be stuck with me forever."
"Good thing I like it, then, you brat," Tanaka sneers, stepping from the beach onto the tiles of the sidewalk, the streetlamps around them causing scattered specs of gold to dance in his eyes as he glances at Chikara. "Guess that means you're stuck with me too, since I can't 'unsubscribe' and all. How d'you like that? Hah!"
"I'll take that as a promise, then," Chikara breathes quietly.
Tanaka smiles, his honest joy filling Ennoshita with bliss in turn, only for it to amplify when Ryuu slowly laces their pinkies together.
"Good. It is."
A/N: Hey hey heeeeeey! :D
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