Chapter Text
The sight of the ocean that faces the hill isn’t a new sight to anyone at Yumenosaki. All anyone would have to do is look out the window and depending on the window you look from, the ocean would be there like always. If you looked from the rooftop it would also be incredibly easy to spot the friendly neighbor who’s waves lap hello as if it was the only thing it knew how to do.
Catching that same ocean at sunset isn’t incredibly new to most students either. Perhaps a club activity would run later than planned and a glance to the sea on the walk home would give them the sight of orange waters as the sun prepares to descend for the day. Maybe some people would go to the evening waters on purpose to calm down from stress or just to enjoy the sight of the sun sinking into the ocean as it casts its last light upon the sands of the beach.
Despite the beauty of it all, not many people make attempts to understand why it’s so breathtaking in the first place. Few people even take the time to acknowledge the sea as something more than the sea that faces the hill. But the few people who feel so passionate as to say they’re connected to the very sea make every attempt possible to make “normal” people understand.
Which is the exact situation Chiaki finds himself in right now.
Had he known it would have turned into an almost hour long lecture from Kanata and Kaoru he would have said he was busy, wished the two a good night, and gone off to do his own activities for the evening. However, something within him made him say yes to this silly little beach outing. He’s not sure why he agreed in the first place. It’s not like he wouldn’t have seen them later as the three have been spending more nights together than any usual friend group would.
Come to think of it, Chiaki starts to think that they aren’t very normal to begin with for a lot of reasons. It could maybe be the fact that Kanata is in the group (which automatically brands you weird for even breathing next to him). Maybe it’s because their lives as high school boys has been far less than normal to begin with.
Chiaki decides however, it’s probably the whole dating each other thing all three of them have going on.
“Are you ‘listening?’”
Kanata’s gentle voice is just enough to snap Chiaki back into reality with a jolt. He lifts his head from its current position on Kaoru’s lap and looks to green eyes untouched by the deep orange hues painting the beach around the three of them. “O-of course! I wouldn’t ignore something so important to you after all..!” He can hear Kaoru scoff from behind him.
“Sure you were. I saw you almost fall asleep a few times~.” Kaoru puts a hand on Chiaki’s hair and fluffs it around causing flustered noises from said Chiaki. “Can’t appreciate how beautiful the ocean is at this time of day if you’re not even paying attention or awake to see it.”
Before he can even open his mouth to respond, Chiaki hears Kanata’s gentle laughter instead as he reaches a hand behind his back to poke Kaoru. “No need to ‘tease’ him, Kaoru. Chiaki is still a ‘growing boy,’ is he not?” Kanata takes his finger off of Kaoru’s cheek only to move it to Chiaki’s. “Perhaps I’ll just have to tell him about it ‘again’ when we get home.”
Chiaki looks off into the distance where the sun is starting to slowly dip into the endless ocean in front of him while ignoring Kanata’s index finger making slow and lazy strokes down his face. The waters show no traces of the crystal blue it carried in the morning, only a blazing orange that makes Chiaki wonder if the ocean is a field of passionate fire as opposed to the calm waters he sees outside the window of the classroom every afternoon.
The two boys on either side of him seem to notice the silence as they both lean their heads against Chiaki’s own. He hears Kanata sigh against him while Kaoru decides it’s now his turn to lie his head on Chiaki’s lap for no reason. Despite the dropping temperatures due to a lack of sunlight he can’t help but feel his entire body heat up. A hand moves to Kaoru’s hair in an impulse action and he starts to run his fingers through the soft hair, to which he receives soft hums in return.
Kaoru turns his head to the ocean and sighs while Chiaki keeps petting silky blonde hair. “You’re really gentle, Moricchi. It’s almost like you’re afraid of hurting me or something.” A quiet laugh from Kaoru that’s covered by the lapping waves.
Soft and slow laughter as Chiaki feels the person to his left shift around a bit. Kanata moves one of his own hands to Kaoru’s head while still keeping his own leaned against Chiaki’s. “Chiaki is very ‘gentle,’ isn’t he?” Kanata decides to join the fun now and begins to stroke the hair underneath his hand. “We’re both very ‘lucky’ to have such a gentle and loving ‘boyfriend.’”
“You… really think so?” Both of the sitting boys look down to Kaoru in a state of near confusion as to why he’d deny such a claim. “Well, I can say that I’m equally lucky to have the best boyfriends I could ask for.~”
A moment or two of silence only challenged by the waves softly brushing against the sands of the beach. “Ah, we got a little ‘sidetracked,’ hm?” Kanata’s gentle voice manages to shatter the silence as Chiaki and Kaoru look to him. They see him turn his head back to the ocean with a bob of the head (and stray hair on the head). “I think the ‘sea’ looks beautiful tonight. Perhaps even more ‘breathtaking’ than usual.~”
Everyone that isn’t Kanata has to take a second and wonder if that statement really means anything to Kanata.
The other two boys turn their own gazes to the waters ahead of them. Like Kanata said, they really can’t deny the sea looking pretty. How the orange reflecting off the waters like glass slowly dies off in trade for richer reds and a touch of inky blues and purples would make even the most uninterested people stop and take the moment in.
The stars in the skies which grow murkier and darker by the second decide it’s a good time to show themselves, twinking softly as if they were waving hello to the waves below. It’s a sight that seems so fantasy, so unreal, so simple out of reality’s reach. But the fact that it’s here, it’s really here, would make possibly anyone think otherwise.
Chiaki has to wonder to himself if people like Kanata and Kaoru would ever get bored of this sight. He sure hopes not, otherwise he wouldn’t have an excuse to come to this beach again one of these days.
A look to Kanata, then Kaoru, then Kanata again. “Do you two just know when the ocean is gonna look the best?”
He can feel Kaoru shrug from his lying down position and almost cryptic sounding giggles from Kanata. “The ocean looks the best ‘all the time.’” He takes one of Chiaki’s hands in his own, sand from the beach lingering on both of them. “But I think it looks the ‘best’ when I’m with you two.”
Kaoru finally lifts his head up from Chiaki’s lap and sends a playful glare to Kanata. “Can you not be overly gay and sappy for once, Kanacchi?” He also takes the time to grab Chiaki’s free hand with one of his. “I like being loved and all, but you don’t need to make it sound so gross and cheesy.~”
Chiaki hears another round of banter between the two go off but he can’t hear it over the sounds of the night. Perhaps he doesn’t care. Or the calming twilight ocean is more important in this moment. It’s pretty, sure. But maybe Kanata’s overly cheesy remark earlier proves true.
His boyfriends seem to catch on to his silence and before he knows it, a kiss to either cheek followed by the feelings of two people snuggling against his sides. Chiaki looks to either side of him to see the two looking just as lost in the endless stretch of ocean ahead and he can’t help but smile.
Perhaps it does look the best when they were together.