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Coming to Okinawa to celebrate the new year was a good idea on paper, but a little less so in practice. It’s crowded at best and packed at worst. But even then, pressed between bodies and holding onto Shuji’s hand, Chifuyu can’t really complain when the sky lights up with fireworks. They kiss at midnight, and while that’s romantic, he’s glad that he let his boyfriend talk him into staying longer, so they get to spend some more private time on the beach together, too.
The crowds thin out eventually, days after new year’s has passed. It’s the perfect time for them to actually enjoy the beach and each other.
And maybe Chifuyu gets a little lost in it, the soft light of the setting sun on Shuji’s hair and the way his skin seems to glow under it. It’s a bit ridiculous because he’s seen Shuji a million different times in a million different situations and somehow, the man still manages to take his breath away.
He bends over to take off his sandals. When he looks up again, it’s like a movie. How incredibly cheesy, truly, because he finds himself frozen, toes in the warm sand, as Shuji walks ahead a little and then stops. He stops to look over his shoulder and smiles that wonderful smile and it's getting stupid, Chifuyu can feel himself tear up a little.
“You coming, my love?” Shuji holds out his hand after he says it, and really, it’d be impossible not to give in.
Instead of taking the hand, like a normal person maybe would, Chifuyu nearly trips over himself to run to Shuji and once he reaches his love, flings himself into open arms. He’s laughing like a child as Shuji spins him around and laughs that soothing laugh of his, too.
For a moment, life is just like the cheesiest and most wonderful romance movie. Maybe even better, because the man holding him is warm and solid, and smells like magnolia and something that’s so uniquely Shuji. Sure, maybe Chifuyu is a hopeless romantic and maybe it’s all a bit silly, but as the other holds him up after that, and he can look down in the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen, he finds himself crying a little, again.
Shuji was right, it turns out. The beach is, indeed, stupidly romantic with the setting sun. There are some other couples sitting some ways away, enjoying the view, too, but it still feels like they are the only people in the world.
Hand in hand, they make their way over to the shoreline and together, they stand there for a moment. Drinking in the scent of the sea, the soft colors the sun paints the sky in, and when their eyes find each other again, they spend some time just silently watching each other, too.
“I wish we could stay here forever,” Shuji whispers with a soft smile.
“I wish I could stay with you forever.” Chifuyu smiles back.
“You can.” Then, a soft kiss. “You big softie.” Another kiss. “Wanna light up the sparklers and make our wishes?”
“I think I just did.” So cheesy. Chifuyu laughs at himself a little. “Yeah. Let’s light them up.”
He giggles softly as Shuji messes with the lighter, trying to shield it from the wind until finally, the sparklers catch light. They crouch down after that, watching the soft glow from the little fireworks dance around.
“Make your wish.” Shuji is smiling his soft smile again, the one that he only ever uses around Chifuyu. “I just did.”
“Oh yeah?” He looks into honey-golden eyes and gets lost for a moment in the way they light up and become impossibly brighter over the sparklers. He holds his own closer to the other and watches how the sparkles seem to bounce off each other, dancing on their way down and fizzling out before they hit the wet sand.
The warmth of the sparklers is nothing compared to what he feels when he looks up at Shuji again. “I don’t know what to wish for,” he breathes out, following the dancing shadows cast over the beautiful face before him as the sparklers continue to cast them in soft light. “I just want you, Shuji, baby.”
“You have me.” Shuji smiles. “C’mon, try harder, love.”
Chifuyu laughs at that and rolls his eyes, bumping his sparkler into the one Shuji is holding. “Fine.” He keeps his eyes on the honey-golden ones. “Then, I wish for a big house, with a million cats and lots of space for dogs, too. And I want to stay there, with you, forever.”
“Yeah?” Shuji smiles again, a bit more excited this time, eyes widening a bit. “What else?”
He can’t help it, not when the man he loves is looking at him like he’s the most wonderful thing in the world. “Yeah.” Chifuyu smiles. “I wanna wake up every day to you cooking pancakes and to you complaining when I kiss you while you’re making those pancakes. And I want to fall asleep next to you every night and wrap myself around you and forget the world around us.”
“You’re such a sap.” Shuji grins. “Wanna know what I wished for?” When Chifuyu nods, he leans in a bit more. “I wished that you’d learn how to throw your socks in the hamper instead of piling them up in a corner.”
“God damnit, Shuji!” He shouldn’t laugh at it, because his stupid boyfriend just ruined a perfectly lovely moment, but he does. Chifuyu laughs as he throws his sparkler down to tackle Shuji to the sand.
They both laugh, and in between laughter, they kiss. Sloppy, and open-mouthed, and perfect. “I love you,” Chifuyu manages, pressing more kisses down the side of Shuji's face.
“I love you, too.” Shuji is still grinning. “You killed our sparklers.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you, you menace.”
They break out into another round of giggles, Shuji complaining about his yukata getting soaked. Chifuyu kisses him for every complaint, reaching up to run his fingers through long, black-and-bleached hair.
The sun sets and, in its place, the moon slowly makes her way over the horizon. Still, they don’t move. They stay giggling against each other’s lips, and when their giggles die down, they kiss each other lazily until the other couples leave the beach.
“We’re alone now.” Shuji smiles against his lips.
“We sure are.” Chifuyu pouts a little at the disruption of their languid kisses. “Wanna head back, too?”
“Oh, my sweet, beautiful fool.” His boyfriend sits up a little, forcing Chifuyu up, too. “Aren’t you supposed to be the romantic between the two of us?” Shuji nudges him off and stands up, holding out a hand. “Let’s go for a swim.”
He has to bend back a little to look at the tall man standing before him. “Has this been your plan all along, you pervert? Get me naked on a public beach, and— Shuji!”
He’s still a sight to behold, of course, all lean muscle and skin, but damn it, they’re on a public beach! Anyone could decide to wander by and really, Chifuyu does not want to get arrested. Or share the absolute pleasure of seeing Shuji like this with anyone else.
“C’mon, live a little!” The menace bends down to pull Chifuyu up and tugs at the obi securely tied around his waist. “What’s better than a refreshing swim under the moonlight?”
“Not getting arrested...” Chifuyu grumbles, but allows his yukata to slide down, anyway. Ridding himself of the last layers, he follows Shuji into the water.
It’s a bit cold, but the smile on Shuji's face warms him right up again. They walk until they’re waist-deep in the water and when he feels the press of warm skin against his back, leans back a little.
The water reflects brilliantly in the moonlight, and he thinks that it’s the cheesiest and most romantic thing to have ever witnessed. With Shuji’s arms wrapped around him and Shuji’s breath against his neck, Chifuyu closes his eyes and sends out all his gratefulness into the universe.
“I wished for the same things, you know?” His soft voice eventually breaks Chifuyu out of his prayers. “I wanna stay with you forever, too, and get that big house and foster all those stray animals. And then I wanna find homes for them with you, just like how I found a home in you, and I wanna kiss you over your breakfast coffee when you’re still grumpy, and at the end of the day, I wanna fall asleep and pretend to be upset when you hog all the blankets and I need to cling to you for warmth.”
“You’re such a sap,” Chifuyu echoes, taking his boyfriends hands to wrap those long arms more tightly against himself. “Does that mean you’re gonna stop getting on my ass about those socks?”
“Never.” Shuji presses a kiss to the back of his head, and stays there, smiling into Chifuyu’s hair. “I think we’ve just established that I’ve got forever to bother you about that.”
And they do, of course they do. He focuses his eyes back on the moon, shining down on them, and then closes them to focus on feeling Shuji breathing against him, holding him, pressing kisses into his hair, and occasionally releasing his hold for a moment to tickle his fingers along Chifuyu’s arms.
They stay like that until their bodies cool down. After that, they make their way back to the beach to pull on their yukatas again and make their way back to the hotel. Shuji grins widely at the look they get from the receptionist and Chifuyu shoots her an apologetic smile.
Between the sheets, they warm up from their midnight swim. He tangles their legs together and cradles his boyfriend’s face in his hands, slowly kissing him and whispering against his lips. “I’m glad you found me, Shuji, baby.”