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“We have to go on the beach. We have to. We’re going,” Pedro declared in his most assertive tone. But for once the others weren't swayed by it.
They were sitting in Francis, who was parked at the cliff edge. Wind was howling around the car and rain and spray were splattering against the windows.
“You can go if you want mate,” Benedick offered. “I think I’m going to give it a miss.”
“Yeah, I have this plan that I’m not going to catch hyperthermia on this trip,” Beatrice said. “I thought that would be fun.”
“It’s not even that wet! We have coats!”
“It’s freezing,” Hero pointed out.
“Balth, you’ll come with me, right?” Pedro turned to look at Balthazar with that look in his eyes. It was completely unfair. It was an unfair look. How could Balthazar do anything but agree with whatever Pedro said when he looked at him like that.
They struggled down the cliff path onto the beach, pulling their hoods down low against the rain. Ahead of them the sea surged and roared, crashing down onto the sand, sending white spray flying into the wind.
The sand sank below their feet and Pedro felt cold seawater seeping into his socks. They stood together and watched the powerful grey ocean.
“It’s beautiful,” Pedro said.
Balthazar agreed.
“I’m getting really wet.”
Balthazar laughed and agreed again. “How about that?” he suggested, pointing to a cave.
They ran, laughing and slipping in the sand into the fissure in the cliff face. Pedro stopped abruptly so that he didn’t hit his head, making Balthazar half stumble into him and grab onto his coat to stop himself from falling. So when Pedro turned around, they were both grinning and inches from each other.
“You’re soaking.” Pedro reached up and, ignoring Balthazar’s smallest of flinches, ran his fingers across his friend’s forehead and down his cheek.
Balthazar closed his eyes and a small smile played on his lips. His lips were dark and glistening with cold and rain.
“Balth…” The monosyllable got stuck in Pedro’s throat and came out as a croak. Balthazar’s eyes flickered open. “Can I… Could we…?”
In response to the unformed question, Balthazar leaned forwards and softly pressed their lips together.
Pedro had kissed people before. He had even kissed Balthazar before. There was no real reason why this simple kiss would make his brain shut down completely.
Balthazar pulled away and smiled at him. “You ok?”
A straightforward question. But Pedro could do nothing except grin hopelessly and nod. And then they kissed again.
Pedro tugged Balthazar closer towards him, an urgency that he hadn’t felt before surging through him. Balthazar’s hands were running through his hair then down his back and Pedro could do nothing but kiss him, conscious only of the taste of him, the soft wetness of his skin -
“Ow!” Pedro yelped as he hit his head on a rock. “Shit. Ow…”
“Fuck!” Balthazar sprang away from him. “Are you alright? Sorry, sorry. Are you ok?”
“Yeah…” Pedro grimaced then laughed, rubbing a quickly rising bump on the back of his head.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
Balthazar smirked. “Um, this isn’t going to be another excuse not to remember us kissing, is it? Concussion.”
“Oh!” Pedro gasped. “That hurts way more than the head wound! ...You’re not going to let that go, are you?”
“I don’t know,” Balthazar shrugged. “It’s sort of feeling more like a cute story right now than it did like a week ago.”
“I’m a shit person and you have permission to constantly remind me,” Pedro said, taking Balthazar’s hands in his own.
“You’re not a shit person.”
Pedro couldn’t help but laugh at the sincerity with which Balthazar said this. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said!” He loved seeing his own laughter reflected in Balthazar’s eyes. He loved the way those eyes darted around his face, as if not sure where to rest.
“Yeah, well, I really mean it.”
“You’re fantastic.”
“Shut up.”
And the pain was gone.
A few moments later, Pedro looked at Balthazar with concern. “Are you cold?”
“Nah…”
“You’re really shivering,” he pointed out, running his hands up and down Balthazar’s arms.
“Um, well, in that case,” Balthazar looked down, “yeah, I guess I am cold.”
“We should go back to Francis.”
“Yeah, we should.”
Balthazar could never have predicted this. He had thought about Pedro; he had imagined what it could be like. He’d never imagined them in a dark and wet cave on a beach in Wales. That was not something he had expected to happen.
But now they were here, Balthazar really didn't want to leave.
Eventually, though, they put up their hoods and braved the weather. Mostly because Balthazar realised that the tide was coming in and they could in actual fact get stuck and die.
They jogged back across the beach towards the car park, both of them oblivious to the wind and rain. Before they reached the footpath Pedro pulled on Balthazar’s hand to make him stop and said something vague like “one more…” or “I just want to…” before kissing him again, his wide smile celebratory, his lips so wet with rain that Balthazar could have slipped off them.
Inside Francis, Benedick was clearing another circle of condensation from the windscreen with the back of his sleeve. “So…” he began, “…are we supposed to pretend we didn’t just see our friends making out on the beach?”
Benedick looked to Beatrice, who looked at Hero, who shrugged. “I suppose we should see what they say?”
“What are the chances that Pedro is going to open the car door and be like, ‘Hey guys! You’ll never guess who just totally made out on the beach!’”
“I think we can safely assume that’s not going to be how he phrases it,” Beatrice grinned.
The conversation stopped abruptly though when the car boot was opened and Pedro and Balthazar began quickly peeling off their sopping coats and shoving them inside, Pedro complaining loudly about bumping his head.
Beatrice, Benedick and Hero shared a look. Hero’s eyes were a warning.
“Oh man!” Pedro laughed, sliding into the back seat with Hero and Balthazar. “I feel like I’ve just had a bath in my clothes!”
Hero squirmed away from him. “You’re wet through!”
“You and Balthy just had a bath together, eh?” Benedick commented.
“What?” said Pedro.
“What?” demanded Hero.
“What? Um, nothing…” Benedick started the car.
If there was something of an expectant silence as they pulled out of the car park, Pedro and Balthazar didn’t notice it. They were too busy discovering the most inconspicuous way to hold hands.