Chapter Text
The two continued walking around for a while, the unfamiliar feeling of freedom, and free time putting them at ease as they aimlessly wandered. Suddenly, an invasive, recognisable scent entered their noses, a crisp, salty aroma indicated they were near the sea
"Do you smell that?" The red head asks; an excited smirk plastered across his face
"There must be a beach near!" Kunigami chuckles before recognising the boy's pleading face, his eyes directed upwards to meet his with a gentle smile on his face "lets go see it"
Chigiri squeals before they both jog down the path, letting their noses guide them; their hands are gripped onto each other, both trying to contain their excitement.
Kunigami felt Chigiri tug his hand slightly, the kind of excited pull he used to do during training whenever something caught his eye. It sent a weird, warm flutter through his chest.
As they approached the edge of the sidewalk, they were met with a teal blue sea, the water glistening against the sun as small boats floated across it. The water was met by a beige, sandy shore, with booths and sunbeds scattered along it.
Their eyes met as they approached the cobblestones rim surrounding the beach, before scouring the area for an entrance down onto the beach.
"There!" Chigiri pointed to a small set of stairs along the stoned rim, the two immediately made their way towards it, occasionally bumping into pedestrians as their excitement fueled them.
Chigiri muttered a flustered “sorry!” each time they clipped someone’s shoulder, but he never slowed down. Kunigami just laughed under his breath, letting himself get pulled along.
They hurriedly made their way down the stairs before eagerly removing their shoes on the last step, letting them feel the hot sand against their skin.
The sand piled against them as they ran towards the waves, their shopping bags still tugging against their arms, the salty wind ruffled against their hair as they shared a brief glance before the waves crashed against their legs.
"Its so pretty" Chigiri says breathlessly as he tugs his hair off the back of his neck, letting it drape across his right shoulder.
"Yeah it really is," Kunigami replied breathlessly as his hand ruffles through his pocket searching for his phone.
The boy raised his phone to take a picture of the view, Chigiri noticed and turned around giggling, leaving the boy with a snapshot of the clear, teal sea along with Chigiri's bright smile taking in the beauty.
The two stood in admiration for a while, letting the foaming waves crash against their shins, the refreshing cold sensation cooling them down from the blazing sun above them.
Kunigami glances over and breaks the silence "I think I saw some free sunbeds over there, should we get them?"
Chigiri smiles and nods before letting one final wave flow against him before jogging after Kunigami. The pair put their prior shopping onto the beds, it was around noon meaning Chigiri was starting to get hungry as he realised their morning coffee wasn’t enough to fuel him for any longer.
"You hungry? I think I’m gonna get something to eat from one of these restaurants" Chigiri asks as he glances at Kunigami who's completely relaxed against the plastic sunbed.
"Yeah actually, I’ll have whatever you’re having" Kunigami chuckles before grabbing his newly bought pair of sunglasses, earning a snicker from the red head.
"Alright" Chigiri smiles before strolling towards the stalls along the beach.
The boy walks back with two chilled diet cokes and two caesar salads (they’re still professional footballers after all). Kunigami raises himself up as he hears Chigiri approaching, causing the red head to come to a halt as he notices the lack of Kunigami’s shirt. He feels warmth rush to his cheeks, knowing damn well it's not from the sun's heat.
"H-here" Chigiri tries to maintain composure as he hands Kunigami his food.
"Mm this looks good" Kunigami chuckles as he raises his sunglasses to his head, letting the glasses push back his ruffled bangs.
He opens the cutlery packet before noticing how Chigiri’s gaze is directed towards his chest. "What's up?" he smirks, noticing how the boy's eyes nervously widen.
"Oh nothing" He nervously chuckles before sitting across from Kunigami, their knees grazing as they face each other.
"What happened to the bold Hyoma from this morning?" He chuckled as he pierced his fork into his salad
"Hyoma!?" The boy exclaimed, caught off guard
Kunigami inched his head forward slightly "What you don’t like it?"
Chigiri's gaze diverted sideways, his nervous nature emerging as he struggled to maintain eye contact with the boy across from him. "No, I do I just-"
Kunigami swiftly kisses him to gain his attention, letting the boy melt into his mouth before breathlessly pulling away "Lets eat!"
Chigiri pulls back, astonished at how casual the boy just was "ok Rensuke" he says in a teasing, sarcastic tone before smirking as he bites some of his salad against the wooden fork.
Kunigami’s heart flutters slightly at the way Chigiri said his name, despite just calling him Hyoma, the sudden change made the boy feel warm as he digged into his food.
The two spent their meal just talking and taking in the atmosphere; the sound of giggles from children in the distance, the bustling restaurants, the crystal clear sea, it was perfect and calming, something the two didn’t get to experience frequently while in blue lock.
Kunigami goes and puts their rubbish in the bin before jogging back "Are you not hot? It's like 28 degrees?" he asks the red head sat on the sunbed, head resting on his knees.
"I’ll get sunburnt and I don’t wanna scare the people who think I’m a girl by taking my shirt off" he sighs as he rolls his eyes.
"Ok well we’ve just bought sunscreen and I think you not wearing a shirt would prove you’re not a girl" Kunigami chuckles at the boys excuses before reaching into the shopping bag and grabbing the full bottle of sunscreen "I can do your back?"
Chigiri sighs as he remembers Kunigami’s stubbornness "fineee" he agrees, knowing Kunigami wouldn’t drop it if he had said no. The boy effortlessly pulls his shirt off of himself before sitting in front of Kunigami.
Kunigami squirts a large blob of sunscreen onto the boy's back as Chigiri moves his hair onto one shoulder, preventing it from getting any cream in it. Kunigami motions his hand in circles, gently rubbing the cream into his back.
Chigiri relaxes against Kunigami's touch; he can feel Kunigami’s callouses from lifting weights against his back, creating a ticklish yet massaging sensation.
Kunigami rubs the rest of the cream into the boy's skin before resting his chin on his shoulder "I’m done, what do you feel about going swimming?" he smiles as Chigiri tilts his neck to meet his eyes.
"We don’t have swimming suits though?" Chigiri asks curiously before noticing a stall selling swimming gear off into the distance "ah look! We can buy some!"
The two buy the first pair of swimming shorts in their sizes and rush into the public cubicles, quickly regretting going barefoot before walking out ready for the sea. Chigiri swiftly ties his hair into a low bun before racing Kunigami into the sea.
Obviously the red head won, yet he has to admit Kunigami is getting faster. The two sink into the sea, letting the waves carry them aimlessly. Their chuckles fill the air as they play like little kids in the ocean, mercilessly splashing each other.
"Ugh! Rensuke my hair!" Chigiri playfully rolls his eyes as he notices how soaked his bangs were due to Kunigami's ‘hulk smash’ into the water, spritzing both of them.
"Oops!" Kunigami chuckled as he approached Chigiri, gently pushing away the wet strands out of his eyes. Chigiri looked deep into his amber eyes, admiring the boy's gentleness, wishing this moment wouldn’t end.
Kunigami smiles gently before grabbing the boy by his waist and plunging underwater with him; any dry hair now saturated as they laughed underwater, a large flush of bubbles appearing above them.
The two played in the water for hours, with no responsibilities, no expectations, just pure time together. The sun started levelling off into the distance, the sea less saturated than when they first arrived and the breeze became cooler.
After some convincing from Kunigami, the two finally left the sea and walked to retrieve their things from their sunbeds. Thankfully, all their stuff was still there and they started packing up to leave.
"What do you want to do for dinner?" Chigiri asks curiously as Kunigami wrapped a towel around him.
"Hmm, how about we go back to the hotel, eat something and then go out?" Kunigami smiles before grabbing the rest of their stuff.
"What like clubbing?" Chigiri asks, astonished.
"What? Who's gonna tell us no, Ego? And no one knows us here, it’ll be fun!" Kunigami chuckled "I mean unless you don’t want to? We can just get dinner at a restaurant" he realises, feeling bad.
"Yes lets go clubbing you’re right it will be fun" he smirks before grabbing onto Kunigami's arm
The two left the beach and made their way back to their hotel, the cool breeze drying them off as the exhaustion of swimming for hours catching up to them.
As they reached the entrance of their hotel, Chigiri slowed his steps, leaning just slightly into Kunigami’s arm.
“Today was… really good” he murmured, cheeks still warm from the sun.
Kunigami glanced down at him, that soft, rare smile tugging at the corner of his lips.“Yeah. And tonight’ll be even better.”
Chigiri rolled his eyes with a small laugh, but his heart wouldn’t stop fluttering.
Whatever happened next, he knew he wasn’t ready for this day to end.