Work Text:
Kindaichi was excited. He’d been excited from the moment Oikawa had suggested spending a week at the seaside over break to practice volleyball and have fun in the sun. Some of the other members of the team hadn’t looked nearly as excited when Oikawa had announced that he, Mizoguchi-san, and Irihata-sensei had planned out the entire trip, although most of them seemed more excited when Oikawa also also mentioned that the whole thing was being completely funded by Aoba Jousai.
Kindaichi couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t be excited about a trip like this. Sure, there would be volleyball practice to improve their skills, but there would also be tons of time for fun stuff and team bonding too! He’d tried to explain why he was so excited to Kunimi, who seemed resolutely uninterested in the trip. “But the beach is so awesome, Akira!” he’d said. “We can swim, and play beach volleyball, and make sand castles!”
“We’re in high school, no one makes sand castles anymore, Yuutarou,” Kunimi had responded, rolling his half-lidded eyes. Kindaichi had blushed a little. He still made sand castles when he went to the beach with his little sisters; he didn’t understand why everyone else had grown out of it. “I’d really rather just stay home.”
“Come on, Akira, it’ll be so much more fun if you’re there!” Kindaichi had begged. “And besides, Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai might get mad at you if you skip.” Oikawa was so gung-ho about the trip that Kindaichi secretly feared what he’d do to anyone who refused him; Iwaizumi was so resentful about being forced along that he would probably murder anyone who managed to get out of the trip.
Kunimi had reluctantly acquiesced, and so he’d piled into the rented van with the rest of them when they set off from Aoba Jousai just before sunrise. The resort they were headed to was three hours south of them; they realized that they shouldn’t have let Oikawa drive the van about an hour into the trip when it became obvious that the sun was rising to their right instead of to their left.
Kindaichi was one of the only ones awake enough to notice; most of the others had fallen asleep again immediately after climbing into the van, since they’d left so early. He was currently squished in the far back of the van, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach caused by Kunimi’s head laying heavily on his shoulder as the other snored gently. Pinned between Kunimi and the side of the car and trying desperately not to think about the feelings he’d been developing for the other boy since the two of them had left Kitagawa Daiichi and entered Seijou together, there wasn’t much else to do but stare at the sunrise… But he was on the right side of the car, and he was pretty sure the sun rose in the east, so shouldn’t he not be able to see the sunrise?
He plucked up all his courage and raised a trembling hand into the air until it touched the car roof, before remembering that Oikawa wouldn’t be able to see him and putting it back down again. He cleared his throat and squeaked, “Um, Oikawa-senpai?”
“What is it, Kindaichi?” Oikawa said through a yawn.
“Are you- um- are you sure we’re going the right way?”
“Of course we are, Kindaichi! Don’t you trust your captain’s directional skills?”
“Um- I- no, I do, Oikawa-senpai, I just-” Kindaichi stuttered, wanting to hide his face in his hands. Oikawa just had this way about him that made Kindaichi feel really stupid for ever criticizing him. He wished Iwaizumi-senpai were awake; Iwaizumi-senpai was never afraid of criticizing Oikawa. “I mean, are you sure we’re not going n-north?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kindaichi, of course we’re not going no-” Oikawa paused as a road sign flashed past them proclaiming the road they were on to be the “Tohoku Expressway Northbound”. “Um.”
An awkward silence stretched out between the two of them for a few seconds.
“Um, don’t worry, everyone, everything is completely under control!” Oikawa said brightly. “No need to panic! I’ll just, um, get off at the next exit to… check out the local scenery!”
Kindaichi felt Kunimi stir and raise his head off Kindaichi’s shoulder a little, the movement sending tingles down Kindaichi’s spine. “We’re lost, aren’t we,” he said flatly.
“Don’t be silly, Kunimi-kun!” Oikawa said, apparently adding a suffix to inject some cheer into the occasion. “We’re not lost! We may not be, geographically speaking, in the exact place where I thought we were, or where we’re supposed to be, but we’re definitely not lost!”
Kindaichi heard a grumble from the front seat as Iwaizumi surfaced from sleep. “Shittykawa, what-” he mumbled.
“Nothing, nothing, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa chirped. “Everything is going just fine!”
“What did you do wrong this time?”
“Iwa-chan, what a rude accusation! How dare you assume I’ve done something wrong for no reason!”
“He got us lost,” chimed in Hanamaki from his position in the middle row. Kindaichi gasped in horror, because Hanamaki had just figuratively thrown a few tankers’ worth of gasoline on a smoldering campfire.
“YOU WHAT?” Iwaizumi thundered, and Kindaichi had the sudden urge to clap his hands over his ears.
“We’re not lost, I know exactly where we are!” Oikawa said in a weaker version of his same bright tone.
“Where are we, then?” Iwaizumi growled.
“Um, we’re right outside Osaki, I think!” Oikawa said, peering at another passing highway sign.
“Why the fuck are we in Osaki, you dumbass?” Kindaichi actually did clap his hands over his ears this time. The car swerved violently as Oikawa attempted to avoid a punch from Iwaizumi.
“Please, Iwa-chan, calm down, everything is under control- DO YOU WANT US TO CRASH?” Oikawa shrieked as Iwaizumi punched him again.
Kindaichi wished he could have ridden in the car with Mizoguchi-san and Irihata-sensei instead.
***
Somehow, miraculously, they made it to their resort only about two and a half hours late and with no physical damage to the van or themselves. Kunimi might have had a few bruises from where Kindaichi had been clinging to him in fear during the terrifying half-hour when they’d agreed to let Matsukawa, who appeared to have no concept of what a speed limit meant, drive, but that was minor damage compared to what Kindaichi was convinced was going to happen.
But none of that mattered now, because it was a beautiful day, and the sun was beating down on the sparkling waters, and they had the entire day to themselves to do whatever they wanted. After unpacking in the hotel rooms they’d reserved, Kindaichi dragged Kunimi out to the beach with the others- “Come on, Akira, it’s so nice out, you can’t just stay in the room the whole time!”
It was as much fun as Kindaichi had imagined. They’d all brought a vast array of beach-related items, although Kindaichi probably had the most; before leaving he’d rummaged through his little sisters’ stash of beach toys and had pulled out water wings, buckets, sand shovels, and a variety of inflatable toys. He was prepared. Various other members of the team had brought beach balls and volleyballs, of course, although none of them was in the mood to play volleyball right now since they knew they’d be practicing soon enough. Excitement bubbled through Kindaichi’s veins. He was really happy to be able to spend this time with his senpai and his friends on the team.
Kunimi was clearly less excited. The second he’d stepped onto the hot sands he’d set up his beach umbrella and towel, sat down in the shade, and opened a book. He’d barely moved since then, except to flip pages and wipe away drops of sweat.
Kindaichi was enjoying himself, but he kept sneaking glances at Kunimi with his big floppy (really cute) sun hat and wishing that Kunimi would put away the book and come hang out with him, Yahaba, and Watari as they worked on digging a pit in the sand instead. He did run up to Kunimi’s towel after a few minutes and beg him to come join the others, but all he could get out of Kunimi was an unconcerned glance and a monotone “If I go out in the sun I’ll get burnt.”
“I could put on sunscreen for you!” Kindaichi blurted out, a little too excited by the idea of his hands sliding over the planes of Kunimi’s back.
Kunimi just looked at him with a dry “I think I’ll pass, thanks,” and Kindaichi returned back to his sand pit, defeated.
Half an hour later, Yahaba and Watari were bored of the pit, which had now filled with water and turned into a mini-bathtub. “Oi, guys, let’s go swimming,” Yahaba suggested.
“Sounds like a great idea,” said Watari, heading toward the water.
“Hang on, let me just see if Akira wants to come,” Kindaichi said, jogging back towards Kunimi’s beach towel.
“They’re so cute,” he heard Yahaba say to Watari behind him.
“If only I had a girl who was as devoted to me as Kindaichi is to Kunimi,” said Watari wistfully.
Kindaichi turned around, blushing furiously. “Hey, it’s not like that!” he said.
“Whatever you say, Kindaichi,” grinned Yahaba. “Go get Akira-kun now, would you?”
“I just call him that because he’s my friend, not because- um-” Kindaichi’s brain had lost the ability to form complete sentences, as it so often did. His blush crawled all the way over his face and down his neck. “I’m just… gonna… go…” He turned around and continued his trek to Kunimi’s towel to a soundtrack of Watari and Yahaba’s cackling, feeling uncomfortably like he was running away.
Kunimi looked up as Kindaichi approached his towel and smiled slightly. “Hey, Yuutarou.”
“Want to come swimming with us, Akira?” asked Kindaichi. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“I don’t swim,” said Kunimi flatly, redirecting his gaze to his book.
Kindaichi gasped. “You can’t swim?! Akira, that’s just wrong!” He grabbed Kunimi by the arm and dragged him out into the sunlight. “Come on, I’ll teach you!”
“If you insist,” muttered Kunimi, squinting at the sudden brightness.
“Hang on, I think I brought my little sisters’ water wings, I can put them on so you don’t drown,” said Kindaichi, dragging them both towards Kindaichi’s towel.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine without them,” said Kunimi hurriedly. “How about we just get into the water now?”
The water was the perfect temperature- Kindaichi tensed from the shock and then relaxed as the cool water relieved the heat of the day. He pulled Kunimi in after him, and the two walked deeper and deeper. Kunimi winced a few times- “These rocks are sharp-” but seemed to be all right with the water.
“You’re not scared of water, are you?” Kindaichi belatedly thought to ask. It would have been terrible of him to have forced Kunimi into this situation if Kunimi were scared of water.
He felt guilt rush through him, but it was immediately alleviated by Kunimi’s headshake and “No, it’s fine.”
“Good,” he said, and they walked together into the ocean until they were about waist-height. Kindaichi felt water rush over the place where his hand was still gripping Kunimi’s wrist and let go awkwardly. Friends probably didn’t hold each other’s hands for that long, did they? Was he being obvious again? He was pretty sure he was being obvious. Ugh, having a crush was difficult.
“All right,” he said, suddenly realizing that he had no idea how to teach anyone how to swim. He could swim well himself, and he’d watched his mom teach his little sisters, but he’d never really paid attention. “I guess I should get you to float first, right?”
“All right,” said Kunimi dubiously.
“So just sort of… lie on your stomach in the water, okay? Let the water hold you.” Kindaichi really did not know what he was doing here. For a brief second he wanted to chicken out, to let Kunimi go back to his towel and his novel and to just go join Yahaba and Watari’s water fight. What if Kunimi drowned because he didn’t know how to float? It would be Kindaichi’s fault!
“Why don’t you hold me under the arms while I float?” Kunimi suggested. “You know, just so I don’t go under by accident if I don’t do it right.”
Kindaichi smiled in relief. Kunimi had the best ideas. Also, if Kunimi suggested it, then it wouldn’t look like Kindaichi was just looking for another excuse to touch the other boy. This was the best of both worlds. “Yeah, sure,” he said gratefully.
Kunimi flopped down into a picture-perfect float. Kindaichi leaned down a little to grab him under the armpits and keep him supported. Against the cool saltwater, Kunimi’s skin felt blazingly warm. The butterflies in Kindaichi’s stomach started tap-dancing.
“Um,” he managed to squeak out. “Are you? Okay?”
“I’m fine, Yuutarou,” said Kunimi, floating as confidently in the water as if he’d been doing it all his life. An incoming wave hit him in the face and he spluttered. “Mostly.”
“Okay, ummmm…” Kindaichi tried to think, most of his brainpower taken up by sheer pleasure and panic that he was touching Kunimi. Both of his hands were intertwined around the other boy’s chest, so this probably counted as a hug, right? Or was this position too weird for a hug? Oh, right, he had been starting a sentence somewhere back there. “Maybe you should, um, kick now?”
“Yeah,” said Kunimi quickly, craning his neck up to look at Kindaichi. “Keep holding me up so I don’t start moving.”
Kindaichi nodded. Kunimi started kicking, sending up fountains of water. Some of the droplets landed on the back of Kindaichi’s neck, and he flinched a little. “You’re doing good,” Kindaichi said awkwardly. “Maybe now you should start paddling with your arms?”
“How do I paddle?”
“Um. You just. Um.” How did you describe it? “You sort of… reach out and pull back?”
“Could you maybe… move my arm the way it’s supposed to move a couple times? Just to get the hang of it?” Kunimi stared up at Kindaichi with half-lidded eyes.
Kindaichi’s stomach butterflies came out for an encore. His blush had now spread halfway down his chest. “Y-yeah, sure,” he stuttered, bending over and grabbing Kunimi’s left arm with his left hand. He moved their arms tentatively forward, digging into the water, then dragged them back towards Kunimi’s body. “Like this,” he mumbled, trying hard not to get distracted. Now that he was bending forward, his chest was only inches from Kunimi’s back. If he dared to lean down just a little farther…
“Yoo-hoo!” Oikawa’s familiar sing-songed salutation broke the air and the moment dissolved. “What are my kouhai up to?”
“Oh, um, I’m-” Kindaichi answered, automatically standing to attention in the presence of his senpai and dragging Kunimi half-out of the water. Kunimi made a sharp noise in protest and Kindaichi let go in surprise, dropping a spluttering Kunimi back into the water. Kindaichi gasped in horror and bent down again to pick Kunimi up, setting him carefully on his feet. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” he moaned, completely forgetting Oikawa’s question.
“He’s teaching me how to swim,” Kunimi supplied drily.
Oikawa burst out laughing. “Nice one, Kindaichi! I don’t know if drowning him actually counts as teaching him how to swim, though…”
Kindaichi’s blush had nowhere else to go, so it settled for doubling back on itself and making every inch of him even redder.
“We were doing well until you came over, Oikawa-san,” Kunimi pointed out icily.
“Yeah, I’m sure you were,” said Oikawa, smirking. “It looked like you were having fun, anyway. Maybe I should ask Iwa-chan to teach me how to swim…”
Kindaichi was completely lost. “But you know how to swim, don’t you, Oikawa-senpai?”
Oikawa just laughed again, at least until his laugh was cut off by a gaily colored beach ball soaring across the water and into the back of his head.
“Hey, Assikawa, stop torturing the first years!” came Iwaizumi’s yell.
“Mean, Iwa-chan,” pouted Oikawa, but he scooped up the beach ball and stuck it under his arm as he turned in Iwaizumi’s direction. “Well, you two have fun!” he said gaily as he splashed away.
Kindaichi and Kunimi turned to look at each other, Kindaichi now about the same color as a tomato. Was a slight blush dusting Kunimi’s cheeks, too? No, that was probably just sunburn, Kindaichi told himself. He’d never put that sunscreen on. He hoped Kunimi didn’t burn because of him. It was hard to tell what Kunimi was thinking from his expression, but Kindaichi recognized the little twist to his mouth that meant he was embarrassed. Kindaichi realized he was staring at Kunimi’s lips and wrenched his gaze away to Kunimi’s eyes, but that made it even more awkward, because now they were making prolonged eye contact, and Kindaichi was pretty sure that friends didn’t usually stare so long at each other, but he couldn’t look away from Kunimi’s dark and piercing eyes.
“I think I’m ready to try by myself now, maybe,” said Kunimi, diffusing a little of the tension in the air between them.
“Yes! Sure! That sounds like a great idea!” Kindaichi said desperately, finally looking away from Kunimi. All he wanted to do, suddenly, was submerge his entire body in the water. Then maybe he could calm down and stop feeling like a lovestruck idiot.
***
A few hours later, Kindaichi had managed to calm himself down at least somewhat, or at least stop thinking about how embarrassed he was and making the cycle worse. Surprisingly, Kunimi hadn’t gone back to his book, even though they had both decided that he could swim adequately now; he’d joined the others roughhousing in the water and throwing the beach ball around. That made Kindaichi even happier to be here; having fun with Kunimi was the best kind of fun. The day couldn’t be going better. That is, until the riptide hit.
It was subtle at first, just a slight pull against his body. The water was still barely at chest height, so he didn’t let it bother him and tossed the beach ball he was holding back at Iwaizumi. But Iwaizumi, who was standing farther out, wasn’t paying attention; he was too busy looking at something in the rushing water. The beach ball landed unattended in the current and floated out into the deeper ocean much more quickly than it should.
Kindaichi, transfixed by the ball, didn’t realize for a second that everyone had gone terribly silent. Then he saw a white face in the current, bobbing near the beach ball, and his heart stopped as he realized what was going on. Kunimi was caught in a riptide and getting sucked out to sea, Kunimi who just learned how to swim today. Kunimi was going to drown. Kindaichi had to help him.
Unthinking, he splashed forward into the riptide, letting it pull him along, thinking that it would let him get to Kunimi faster. He swam with it as much as he can, even though the ground had dropped out from under his feet, and this was really terrifying, and all he wanted to do was freeze in place, but he had to get to Kunimi. A sudden wave buffeted him, sending him underwater. He tried to rub the salt out of his eyes, but using his arms for that meant he wasn’t using them to paddle, so he tried to do both at once and went under again from his sheer lack of coordination. He couldn’t see Kunimi anywhere. He couldn’t blink enough salt out of his eyes to see the shore, even. He frantically paddled in a random direction, trying to at least stay afloat, when suddenly a strong arm was wrapped around his shoulder and he was being towed out of the current. Once he was out of the riptide, it was easier to calm down. He rubbed one of his arms across his eyes vigorously and managed to get enough salt out of his stinging eyes to see his rescuer.
It was Kunimi.
“Akira?” Kindaichi gasped. “But you just learned- you- how did you-”
They were almost back to the rest of the group now; Kindaichi could feel the ground under his feet as he swung his legs down. He stood and turned to face Kunimi, incredibly confused now.
“I can swim,” the other boy said. “I said I didn’t swim, not that I couldn’t. It’s just too much effort most of the time.”
“What?? Then why did you let me-”
“Why do I ever do anything, Yuutarou? Because you wanted me to come swim with you. And…” Kunimi fidgeted a little, and okay, that was almost definitely a blush on his cheeks now. “It meant I got you to touch me, didn’t it?”
Kindaichi blinked, because okay, Kunimi definitely just said that, but did it mean what he thought it meant? “I don’t understand,” he said, scratching the back of his head and excruciatingly aware of how lame he sounded.
Kunimi sighed, sounding long-suffering. “You’re really dense, you know that, Yuutarou?” he asked.
“Yeah, I know,” said Kindaichi sheepishly.
“Oh my god, just kiss already!” Hanamaki yelled from behind them.
Kindaichi stiffened, mortified. He hadn’t realized the others were listening. But Kunimi seemed less embarrassed about it. If anything, the tiniest of smiles appeared on his face. “Good idea,” he called back to Hanamaki, then turned to Kindaichi, who was now blushing redder than he had ever thought possible. “What do you say?”
Kindaichi couldn’t say anything, but there were better ways to use his mouth right now, anyway. Kunimi’s lips tasted like the ocean, and Kindaichi was about to explode with joy.
“Will you go out with me?” he asked as soon as their lips left each other’s.
“Of course,” said Kunimi, his usual composure just a little ruffled. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask for months, you know.”
“You could have asked too,” Kindaichi pointed out.
“I didn’t know if you’d realized you liked me yet. You can take a while sometimes.”
“Hey, I got there in the end,” Kindaichi said.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Kunimi replied, and there was an honest-to-God full smile on his face now. Kindaichi thought he honestly might ascend up to heaven right then and there.
Behind them, Kindaichi could hear Oikawa splashing backwards into the water. “Oooh, Iwa-chan, save me, I’m drowning! I think I need mouth-to-mouth!” he squealed.
“Say that one more time and I’ll call a lifeguard on you, dumbass,” replied Iwaizumi.
“Stop copying your kouhai, Oikawa. Find your own moves,” chimed in Matsukawa.
Kindaichi ignored them all in favor of hugging Kunimi to his chest. “Aren’t you glad you came now?” he asked Kunimi. “We have a whole week together.”
“Yeah, with those idiots,” Kunimi muttered, but Kindaichi could hear the amusement in his voice. “Yes, Yuutarou. I’m very glad I came.”
Almost drowning was worth it, Kindaichi thought, for this.