Well, it's definitely summer again. A high of seventy-eight degrees greets your crusty eyes as you briefly check the weather app during your morning routine, confirming that spring has finally left to shoo out winter next year. Get ready for days so hot you'll want to do nothing but stay in bed, the thick humidity sticking to you like a disgusting blanket. Fun.
But hey, at least this warm weather means that there'll be more cuties in tummy shirts for you to gawk at, right? Har, har. That joke just gets more and more hilarious every time you think of it, if you can really even call it a joke. Then again, there is one cutie you know who seems to enjoy wearing such shirts, especially after you've embarrassed yourself while he was shopping for one. In the weeks since then, Astolfo has gathered for himself a respectable collection of midriff-baring tops, each one he proudly wears with an outfit carefully hand-picked to complement it. (Your favorite, of course, being a cropped magenta-and-indigo-striped hoodie, paired with ripped black jeans that snugly hung low on his hips.) In fact, it's been quite a while since you've seen him wearing something that didn't flaunt his stomach in some way.
Thankfully, you've learned to not creepily stare at his breathtaking belly every time you meet up with him; instead, you sate your desperate craving by catching a quick glance or two whenever he's not looking. Which is not very frequent any more, considering how he often seems to enjoy looking at you while wearing that pinchable grin. He's definitely taken a liking towards you, even if the more self-loathing side of your brain doesn't understand why. Despite that, you'll still gladly date him.
...Are you even dating him, though? Although each time you hang out with him is filled with pleasant feelings and his bright, smiling face, you've never actually heard him explicitly say you were dating him. It's not like you could just ask him for clarification or anything, that would be so damn weird. Whatever. It was too early in the morning to think of such things, instead you should focus on simpler stuff like breakfast and taking a shower. What time was it again? You wipe your eyes and check your phone once more, making sure to actually pay attention when you look at the time. It's 11:24. Crap. Even though it's the weekend, you still slept through a good chunk of your day which always sucks.
You sigh. Whatever. Not a big deal. It's only Saturday. Not like you had much planned today anyway. Eventually you manage to crawl out of bed and shamble over to the bathroom.
While slowly chewing on a spoonful of mediocre cereal for your breakfast (lunch?), your phone vibrates. You check it, and your eyes briefly light up upon seeing the notification: a text from Astolfo. Excitedly, you unlock your phone and open the message, almost dropping it in the bowl in the process.
"hiya, hows my fav dork doing today? ( ´∀`)ﾉ" it reads. Normally you would quickly become annoyed with anyone who used those dumb-looking emoticons all the time, but with Astolfo… it was different, somehow. Quickly, you type your reply, repeatedly having to backspace typos as your fingers continually slip.
"oh you know, nothin much I guess. other than being hot and sweaty lol" you send back. You sit there for a good thirty seconds, neglecting your soggy cereal as you eagerly wait for his reply.
Eventually he sends, "haha yeah its pretty hot today. makes me wanna do nothing but sleep _(ˇωˇ」∠)_ " You stare at the screen for a little bit, debating whether or not you should write something back, but he manages to beat you to the punch and sends, "hey, since its so hot today, wanna go to the beach? (＾ω＾) if im gonna be sleepy today, id rather sleep on the sand (* ω)"
A beach trip? With Astolfo!? In a sudden rush of excitement, you make no hesitation in letting him know of your sentiment towards such an outing.
"yeah! that sounds great lol. I think a beach trip is just what I need today lol" you send. As you wait for Astolfo's response, you repeatedly look over your message, reading each word over again. Shit, you've used "lol" twice! Is that too much?
"great! i cant wait!ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ i already have all the sunscreen and towels and stuff. would you mind picking me up in an hour?" he sends you. Of course you wouldn't mind.
"yeah, no problemo lol" you type. You smile to yourself. You could always rely on Astolfo to brighten up your day. After putting your phone down on the table, you move to grab the spoon again, but stop yourself after seeing how disgustingly mushy the cereal has become. Whatever. You weren't that hungry anyway.
Your phone lights up again, and you quickly grab it. It's another text from him. "ill see you then, you big doofus! (*＾3＾)" it reads. God, would he ever stop being so adorable? You gaze at the emoticon for a few more seconds. It was a kissy face. While you've never had the chance to kiss him or anything, seeing that emoticon made you realize just how much you wanted to feel his soft lips…
Ugh, it wasn't worth thinking about. You would only end up emotionally torturing yourself by obsessing over it. It would be better to think about things that were actually going to happen, like having fun with him by spending some time on the beach. Yeah, that's right! What could be more wholesome and platonic than that? All you needed to do was grab a swimsuit, pick him up in about an hour, and then head off to the shore. After that, you two could do whatever you wanted, like build sand castles, swim, or even just lay in the sun. Yeah, it will be great!
But first, grabbing a swimsuit. It's been a while since you've ever had a reason to wear one, but you're pretty sure that you've got a swimsuit laying around somewhere. Putting your phone in your pocket, you get up and bring the unfinished bowl of cereal to the kitchen, placing it into the sink next to some forgotten dirty dishes. You would totally deal with those later. For now, it was time to look through all your drawers.
Traffic was alright on the way to Astolfo's apartment. Pretty typical for a Saturday afternoon. The sun constantly beat down on you, the surrounding air, and any unlucky pedestrian who was not protected by the shade. Your car's poor air conditioner could barely keep up with the growing heat of the early summer, and your sweat was there to be a friendly reminder of what season it was. But it wouldn't be long before you'd get to cool off in the big ocean, Astolfo right beside you, probably splashing you while laughing in that precious little way of his. Until then, you needed to be patient and tolerate the heat.
By the time you got there, you were almost ready to collapse onto the floor and suffer a heat stroke. ...Well okay, maybe it wasn't actually that bad, but still. You managed to trudge up to the entrance of the building, and you briefly gaze at the confusing room-caller-thingy mounted to the wall. Screw it. Ignoring the archaic technology presented before you, you simply take out your phone and give Astolfo a call.
"Huff… Yeah, I'll be down in just a minute!" is all you hear, before he abruptly hangs up on you. You look at your phone in confusion, and then slowly shake your head as you put it away. Typical Astolfo.
A few minutes go by with no sign of him. You glance at the building's brick wall, the cars passing by, out into space. What is he doing? It usually never takes him this long. After what seems like another good five minutes, you eventually hear a slight patter of footsteps, followed by the much louder buzz of the door unlocking. With a pronounced, startling click, the door opens, revealing a completely red-faced and out-of-breath Astolfo, wearing nothing but some sweatshorts and a sports bra.
"Hey there!" he gasps between breaths. "You all… huff… set and everything?"
You motion towards the swim trunks you're currently wearing. "Yeah, pretty much. What's up with you, though?"
Astolfo leaned on the side of the door frame. "It's nothing. Figured I'd just… huff… get in a bit of exercise for the day."
"Just a bit?" you ask. "You look like you ran a marathon or something."
"Oh, give me a break, you big meanie! It's like, seventy degrees or something." He chuckles, wiping some sweat from his burning forehead. You couldn't tell if his burning red face was from the heat or his workout. "But I gotta work hard to stay in shape, right?" he asks, pridefully moving a hand to his hip and another to the back of his head. In a sudden moment of weakness, you commit the great blunder of admiring the figure presented in front of you.
It was the sweat. Each droplet slowly trailed down his taut tummy, covering the smooth surface with a pleasant shine, and it drove you absolutely crazy. The way the sun's rays reflected off of it perfectly accentuated his lean, curvy frame, and it made his astounding abdomen look so nicely defined. You wanted to taste the sweat for yourself. You wanted to get down on your knees, grab him by the armpits, and just lick the sweat right off, wallowing in his perfection. Simply thinking about it was enough to cause a stir in your legs. But…
No, not right now. You shouldn't. This was not the time to creepily obsess over his stomach. The beach trip, remember? Focus on that! Soon, you'll be enjoying a fun and completely platonic time with Astolfo at the beach, doing nothing but hanging out and strengthening your friendship. But none of that can happen if you keep acting like such a creep! So, reluctantly, you take your eyes off his beautiful belly. He's still posing, and as you look at his face, you see he's grinning in that smug way of his, snaggle tooth and everything.
"Enjoying the view~?" he asks, teasingly moving his hips from side to side. Shit. He noticed.
You take a breath, opening your mouth to say something. However, it stays agape as you try to think of something to say that could possibly make this situation any better. Eventually you give up and mutter, "Um… S-Sorry." God, that was so awful! You clench your teeth. If only you could teleport to somewhere else.
Astolfo regards you for a second, partially squinting. Then, he giggles, moving a hand to cover his mouth. "Oh, don't be like that! You know I don't mind when you stare," he admits, giggling some more.
"W-What?" is all you ask. You stand there, feeling like a complete jackass, and Astolfo simply giggles at you again. It didn't help that he has the most delightfully-sounding laugh. "I… I didn't know that!"
"Well yeah, of course I would be okay with it! It makes me feel… you know, sexy." Once again he laughs so adorably, and now you're even less sure of what's causing his red face. "I mean, why wouldn't I be okay with it? You know I always catch you sneaking a glance every so often, right?"
Fear briefly envelopes you, and you take a step back. "You… n-notice!?"
Astolfo takes a hand to his forehead, letting out another laugh. "Yeah, of course I do! You're not very good at hiding it." He snickers, shaking his head. "Honestly, I'm not sure why you even bother trying to be so secretive. We're dating, right? Is there something wrong with just simply admiring your boyfriend~?" he teases, emphasizing the word "boyfriend" by jutting his partially exposed hips to the side with each syllable.
You gasp, as if you were punched in the gut. "B-Boyfriend!?" is all you can manage to utter. Astolfo responds with another burst of laughs, his giggles echoing around your head like rubber balls of pure cuteness.
"Aww, somebody's a little nervous before his little beach date, huh~?" he teases, wiping away the sweat from his forehead while continuing to snicker. He sighs. "You're so hilarious. I don't know what I'd do without you!"
"...D-Date?" you ask. Astolfo snickers once again.
"Oh come on! What, are you surprised? Of course it's a date, what do you think we've been doing for the past few weeks?" He laughs again, bringing a hand to suppress it. "You're such a big dummy! If I stay down here any longer, I'm gonna laugh too hard and crack a rib or something!" he says, smiling widely. "Stay here, I'm gonna go get changed and grab the towels and stuff." He turns back towards the entrance, but he stops and you can see his grin widen across the side of his face, revealing that damn crooked tooth again. "Then we can get going on the date… with me, your boyfriend~!" he teases, once again shaking his hips with each syllable of "boyfriend".
Frozen, you feel a bead of sweat ride down your neck, and you take a shaky hand to wipe it off. "S-Sounds… good," you quietly reply to him as he opens the building door, disappearing behind it with a stream of adorable laughter.
Well. At least that's one question answered.