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The board rocks gently beneath him, salt clinging to his skin as the sea stretches quiet and endless around him.
Seagulls caw in the distance, seemingly asking to be fed by the beach goers. The sea had gotten him so far from the shore he could barely hear the kids playing.
It’s just him, there.
And, well, Teruomi… somewhere.
When Teruomi had asked Kota to get in the water with him, Kota had to admit he wasn’t a great swimmer — moving in the water tired him out easily. Also, even if he didn’t say it out loud, what he couldn’t see beneath the surface unnerved him a little.
But Teruomi found a way to make him enjoy the sun and the waves without getting tired or exposing his feet too much to the unknown: he gave him his surfboard to sit on and swam behind him, holding onto the board to take him to the middle of nowhere with him.
Teruomi resurfaces, announcing himself with a big gasp. He wraps his arms around Kota’s middle. His wavy hair, flattened by the water, makes him look like a baby seal. He rests his head on Kota’s thigh and squints at the sunlight.
“Your nose is getting sunburnt,” Kota says, grabbing his chin to get a better look.
“Oops.” Teruomi touches his face by instinct and then laughs, guiltily.
“Told you to put some sunscreen on,” Kota scorns him. He brushes the soft skin on the bridge of his nose with his thumb. “It suits you, though.”
Teruomi doesn’t thank him because he gets shy like that sometimes, but he shows Kota all his teeth and his pointy canines happily.
They drift away, slowly and quietly, but always moving. Maybe Kota doesn’t mind the water and the unknown, as long as Teruomi is with him.