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Starbursts of bronze glinted off the surface of the Pacific on Tsurigasaki Beach as the sun set lower into the sky. It was late afternoon just a week or so after surfing’s inaugural Olympic competition had been held. Now the beach was devoid of cameras and five-ringed branding and looking perfectly idyllic, except for the splashing of two people taking place about 30 meters out into the waves.
“Ugh, this is impossible,” Chani groaned as he climbed back onto his board for what must have been the dozenth time that afternoon. He was clad in a Team Korea issue rashguard.
“You’re an Olympian, shouldn’t this be easy for you?” Hwiyoung laughed, straddling his own board and watching Chani slip on the side of the board three times before hauling himself back on. In true surfer fashion, Hwiyoung had forgone a shirt.
Chani gave Hwiyoung a glare. “I competed in sailing, not surfing. You know it’s different.”
“It’s all just standing on a floating thing in the water, I thought your skills would transfer,” Hwiyoung shrugged, cheshire cat expression betraying that he knew otherwise.
“You just brought me out here to see me fall into the water over and over again.”
“That’s not true! I wanted to share a moment with you here now that both of our sports are in the Olympics. And now that we’re both done with competing..”
Even Chani was not unmoved by that sentiment. Since surfing was announced for Tokyo 2020, they had both worked hard for the last several years to qualify with the goal of being able to experience the games together. Not even a year’s delay due to a global pandemic could temper the giddiness they both felt at being able to step on the plane to Tokyo side by side.
“Alright, for the sake of our Olympic memories, I’ll try standing up on this wave one more time.” Chani looked out on the horizon ruefully, waiting for the next wave (that he knew he would wipe out on).
“Yay!” Hwiyoung cheered. “I’ll be right behind you, coaching you.”
“You’d make a horrible coach,” Chani grumbled as he started to paddle. After a couple moments he really started to feel the swell of the oncoming wave drag his board forward.
“Keep paddling, okay, get on your board now-!” Hwiyoung said from somewhere behind him. Chani gritted his teeth and brought his feet flat against his surfboard. The wave beneath him was building steadily and his board was picking up speed. (Hwiyoung had to be insane to think that this experience had anything in common with sailing a one person dinghy.)
“You’re doing great, you’re doing great- you gotta stand up now! Right foot first! Push up from your chest!”
Chani put every ounce of his concentration and coordination into completing the three-step-up method that Hwiyoung had demonstrated to him so many times, but had never quite been able to master. This time was no different. He stood up for one elusive second- and was belly-flopping into a mouthful of saltwater the next. By the time he’d come back up above the waves and leeched on to his board to float, Hwiyoung was long gone, riding the wave all the way to shore and throwing a couple smiles back at Chani to check that he wasn’t drowning.
Chani bobbed up and down and watched Hwiyoung do his thing. His hair flew out behind him, longish strands sticking to the back of his neck and lightened from sun and salt at the ends. His whole body was tanned from years of exposure, the points of his shoulders especially darkened. He really was the picture of the suave heartthrob surfer you’d find in a teen chick flick. Chani snorted as the thought crossed his mind. In reality Hwiyoung could not be any further from that. He admired as Hwiyoung came up from the wash, sea foam running down his back muscles gloriously. Then the moment was over as Hwiyoung got back on his board and paddled out towards Chani happily.
“Nice wave,” Chani said in English, trying to channel the Californian accent that a lot of Hwiyoung’s friends slash competitors in the surfing world had.
Hwiyoung laughed. “You sound ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as you looked when you wiped out just now.”
Chani gave him a hard punch to the shoulder. “I get it, I get it. Can we go back to the Olympic village now? I’m starving.”
“No, I wanna stay out here a little bit more.” Hwiyoung said.
“I told you that wave was my last one- what are you doing?” As Chani complained, Hwiyoung slipped off his board and made to get on Chani’s.
“Let me on.” After some scuffling and splashing, the two sat straddling the board facing each other. Hwiyoung had a bright smile on his face while Chani was sporting an expression that could only be described as hangry.
“Let’s kiss,” Hwiyoung announced.
Chani's mood flipped one-eighty. He rolled his eyes as a sly grin came on his face. “So you just wanted to get me out here so we could make out with nobody around.”
“What?! It’s romantic!”
“And on the beach where you competed at your first Olympic games, does that turn you on?” The teasing continued.
“Well at the village our roommates could walk in on us at any time-”
Chani leaned forward and cut Hwiyoung off with a deep kiss. The ocean on their lips made for a salty glide as Chani licked into the seam of Hwiyoung’s mouth. Hwiyoung caught on quickly and scooted forward on the board with a sigh. It really was a rarity to get Hwiyoung alone like this, wearing the sea like a second skin and glowing with the exertion of doing what he was born to do. Chani had to admit that Hwiyoung was on to something when he lured him out here. Maybe he would propose a similar sailing excursion during their break before their separate training resumed. He ran a hand down Hwiyoung’s pec, just to get his thankfulness across.
When Chani tried to pull away Hwiyoung wouldn’t let him, chasing his lips for a series of short, soft kisses.
“I think it’s cute how you announce your intentions every time you want to kiss.” Chani said when they finally disentangled from each other. “You could have just done it. I wouldn’t have complained.”
“Shut up,” Hwiyoung sulked. He opened his mouth to say something more but then thought otherwise of it and joined their mouths again. Indeed Chani didn’t complain, tilting his head to slot their mouths together perfectly.
They sat there, bobbing up and down gently on the waves and kissing languidly, fingers threading together. Their shins knocked together in the sea below. They were both happy to just enjoy each other in a moment that might only come once in a lifetime. The sun set lower and lower bathing the lovers in gold, but neither made any move to head back to shore. And you know what? It was pretty romantic.