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Kaito is the adventurous, sporty type, so when he invites Shuichi and Maki out to the beach, Shuichi is sort of expecting him to want to surf.
Maki, of course, has her fair share of reservations about this activity. Namely:
“I’m not swimming.” She’s standing in front of her car in sunglasses, a Hawaiian-style t-shirt, and long, dark jeans, which is… a choice, given the weather today. Shuichi glances up at the clouds a few times, checking to see if it might get a little colder, but—no, it’s definitely just going to get hotter. Maki is going to bake in the mid-July sun. Although perhaps Shuichi should count it as a good thing that she’s wearing the goofy Hawaiian shirt at all—he thinks he recognises it as a gift of some kind from Kaede, which might have spurred her decision.
“Um, clearly,” Shuichi offers in an attempt at graciousness. “You… didn’t even pack a swimsuit, Harukawa-san?”
“Nope.” Maki seems pleased with herself, folding her arms across her chest. “That way Momota can’t just throw me in the ocean.”
Shuichi opens his mouth to insist that Kaito wouldn’t do that in the first place, then thinks better of it. Kaito probably wouldn’t do that to Shuichi— he once overheard Kokichi telling Kaede that he has a sickly victorian child constitution, whatever that means—but to Maki… Well, maybe it is for the better that she didn’t bring any kind of swimwear. And simultaneously not for the better, because it really means she doesn’t plan on getting in there.
At least she’s wearing sandals. Shuichi rubs the back of his neck. “I suppose it’s your decision, but Kaito isn’t going to be—”
“Hey guys!”
Shuichi jumps a bit at the sudden yell, but feels a warm smile washing over his face as he turns to face his boyfriend. Using the term still sets off butterflies in his stomach; they’ve only been dating for around a month now, and seeing Kaito still fills him with this sort of heady excitement, practically giddiness. It’s almost a little embarrassing, since Kaito has more or less treated him the exact same since they made it official—with the addition of a forehead kiss or two—but Shuichi can’t help it. He looks up at his boyfriend excitedly.
Then falters. Kaito is dressed in a graphic t-shirt and beige cargo shorts—noticeably not the swimsuit kind. He’s wearing flipflops too, and there’s a towel slung over his shoulder, but he isn’t carrying a bag. Walking next to him is Kaede, who does have her signature backpack (as well as a pretty swimsuit cover over her pale pink one-piece) but Shuichi would be really surprised if she agreed to carry Kaito’s trunks.
“Hey, Kaito,” Shuichi greets, his fondness seeping into his voice despite his initial surprise. He catches Maki rolling her eyes at him out of the corner of his view, but focuses on Kaito, who is grinning as he comes to stand in front of Shuichi.
After ruffling Shuichi’s hair, Kaito says, “You guys ready to hit the tides?”
“Um…” Shuichi leans over and squints, as if Kaito might have a surfboard or something strapped to his back. Indeed he doesn’t, and Kaede’s own backpack is nowhere near big enough to fit one. “Maybe? A-Are you?”
“Damn straight I am!” Kaito punches his fists together. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week! C’mon, we’re wasting time!” He grabs Shuichi’s hand, a gesture that still makes Shuichi’s stomach do flips, before starting a quick trek down the beach. Flip flops are pretty terrible for walking in, but as a seasoned slipper-wearer Kaito does alright even as he pads through the sand. Shuichi, to contrast, stumbles a bit, but Kaito’s firm grip on his hand keeps him more or less upright.
While he’s being dragged, Shuichi takes the opportunity to call over his shoulder, “Hi, Kaede!”
“Hi, Shuichi.” Kaede giggles, looping her arm through Maki’s. “You boys have fun! I’m going to try and convince Maki to swim.”
Maki shakes her head and states, “I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”
“I figured you might not have one, so I grabbed a spare for you!” Kaede says, eyes glimmering. Maki’s smug look drops immediately, and Shuichi snorts, but is quickly distracted by another strong tug on his arm.
It gets easier to walk as they get closer to the tide, the wet sand packed together and firm beneath Shuichi’s feet. This newfound convenience has the added risk of stepping into these little puddles of seawater, but Shuichi is wearing sandals and swim trunks, so ultimately it isn’t a huge issue. He looks up at Kaito, opening his mouth to ask if he plans on swimming in his shorts, then stops with a squawk when he feels a spray of water hit his calf.
Kaito’s head whips around. “Shuichi! What’s the matter?”
“S-Something sprayed me,” Shuichi stammers. He’s more startled than scared, really, but he still accepts the protective arm Kaito curls around his shoulders, at least until Kaito blinks and starts laughing.
“Oh! You gotta watch your step around here, man. C’mon, take a look.” Kaito squeezes Shuichi’s arm before dropping into a crouch, leaning over the spot where Shuichi had just stepped. Confused, Shuichi follows Kaito’s instruction, lowering himself down as well and squinting into the sand where Kaito’s gaze is focused.
It takes him a moment to notice, but with Kaito’s guidance Shuichi eventually spots a tiny, round, green creature in the sand. It glistens under the sun and looks squishy to the touch, with a small opening on the top that almost kind of resembles a belly button.
Shuichi furrows his brow. “Ah?”
“You stepped on a sea anemone,” Kaito explains. Shuichi looks over, not because he’s unfamiliar with the sea creature—though he has his questions—but because Kaito’s grin has snuck into his voice; it’s wide in this way Shuichi has only ever seen it get while Kaito is talking about space. His eyes sparkle as he leans closer to the anemone, using one hand to dig a small hole in the sand, where a bit of water pools. “They squirt when you step on them. Just touching the guys will make ‘em ooze a bit.” He wets an index finger, then gently strokes the surface of the anemone. Just as Kaito has said, thin trails of water run down the anemone’s body.
“Oh, wow.” Shuichi leans closer to get a better look. “Um, don’t anemones have tendrils, though? Is this a different kind?”
“Nah, he’s just closed up right now.” Kaito flicks the sea water from his finger and closes his hand. “For protection. The birds flying around up there are all looking for their next meal, and this guy’s got soft squishy outsides.” He shoots Shuichi a smile. “They close up at night, too, to conserve energy.”
Shuichi tilts his head to the side, listening with interest. “I didn’t know you knew so much about sea animals.”
“Well, I’m no expert or anything.” Kaito chuckles almost sheepishly, his face turning a little red. “I like tide pooling is all… That’s why I wanted to go out today. Super high tide this afternoon.” He nods out towards the water, which is much further down the beach than usual. “Know it’s probably not what you had in mind for today, but—”
“No, I want to.” Shuichi surprises both himself and Kaito with how firmly his words come out, and it’s his turn to let out a nervous laugh. “Um, it’s interesting. And I like listening to you talk.” That part was unnecessary. Shuichi’s ears burn red, but he can’t find it in himself to regret it seeing the way Kaito beams at him. “I’ve never been tide pooling before, will you show me?”
It seems like Kaito practically lights up at the question. He scoots in closer and runs Shuichi through what he calls “the basics”. Use a wet index finger to touch all creatures because the oils on your hand can harm them. Don’t touch fish at all. Don’t move creatures from where you found them; a small distance for you is a huge distance for them. Don’t take anything home unless it’s something unnatural like litter or sea glass. Don’t lift a rock bigger than the size of your balled fist.
At that last rule, Shuichi makes a fist, then compares his to Kaito’s. “This feels targeted.”
“We can do a bit of fudging,” Kaito laughs. “The important thing is we don’t wanna be lifting these gigantic rocks and disturbing all the animals underneath them. The beach is full of a ton of really cool animals that we can find without fucking things up, you know?”
Shuichi can’t help but smile. Kaito can be careless at times, but never when it comes to things like this. There’s a particular sort of consideration about him when he starts talking about science, be it the possibility of alien life, the training he has to do to become an astronaut—and apparently how to respect marine creatures while trekking through their homes. Impulsively, Shuichi leans over and kisses Kaito. It’s sort of poor timing, because Kaito had just opened his mouth to say something else, but though Kaito’s eyes widen, he doesn’t complain.
His voice does crack a bit when he says, “Uh, hey!”
“Hi.” Shuichi blushes, but smiles a little wider for it. “Sorry. Um. I just—admire the dedication you have to topics like this.”
Kaito’s neck is a bit pink. “R-Right. Well!” He quickly stands up, dusting off his pants (even though he hadn’t gotten any sand on them). “Let’s go check out more of the beach, sidekick! There’s still a ton left to discover out here, and we’re wasting the high tide!”
This time, Shuichi is roughly on Kaito’s wavelength as he gets up to follow. He at least understands why they’re working on a time limit, here. A quick glance over at the water tells Shuichi Kaede has successfully managed to coax Maki into the water—maybe through pouting. Shuichi will check in with Maki later and make sure she feels alright about that, but he trusts Kaede’s intuition in that regard. It should be alright.
For now, they have animals to find. When Kaito puts out his hand, Shuichi takes it eagerly, intertwining their fingers.
(Truthfully, even if they don’t find anything else today, Shuichi doesn’t think he’d have much of a reason to complain. Just getting to see Kaito in his element like this is plenty.
And also, it helps that he isn’t currently getting wiped out on a surfboard. Kaito’s enthusiasm and that combined are enough to make this just about the perfect outing.)