Far Out
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Takanoo
Rating: PG
Warnings: A casual near death experience.
Genre: Fluff
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from J&A.
Summary: Takaki had just gone to the beach to surf, like he had yesterday, and the day before.
Takaki groaned, dropping his board and flopping back onto the sand, the hot sun beating down on his tan chest. The rest of the guys had thrown in the towel a few hours ago, the waves too choppy for them, and he’d called them wusses, but all he’d managed to do since was paddle out and promptly get thrown off his board whenever he’d tried to catch a wave, saltwater filling his eyes and his mouth. Surfing was his favorite pastime, but today he’d really only caught one or two decent waves, and honestly it was really starting to look like he’d been the foolish one for persisting. It just wasn’t going to happen today. He sighed, brushing his light brown hair out of his face. The sun felt good.
Maybe he should call Fujigaya, and see what bar the guys were at. It was a little early in the day to be drinking, but the only thing he had on his calendar for tomorrow was more surfing. He didn’t have work for another two days, the shop slow what with it not being tourist season, and the beaches were free for him and his friends to have pretty much to themselves. Even today, there were only a handful of people, most of them bums like him that worked just enough to pay their rent, and spent the rest of their time on the sand. A lot of the locals were like that, and Takaki loved it. It was relaxed here, the beaches were nice, the people slow moving and content, and rent was cheap. It was ideal.
“Help! Help me! Somebody!” It took Takaki a moment to process the voice, the words barely audible over the sound of the ocean, and he sighed, sitting up, expecting to see some kids playing some sort of make believe game down the coast. Instead he looked around and found the beach nearly deserted. He got to his feet, confused, and there was another yell for help, this one much more desperate. It came from out in the water, and to Takaki’s surprise he caught sight of a head peeking out over the top of the water, and he gasped in disbelief. There was actually someone in trouble.
“Hold on!” He grabbed his surf board out of the sand and rushed for the water, wading out until he was chest deep before getting on his board and paddling toward the person in need. It was quite a ways, Takaki surprised at how far they had managed to make it into the ocean. As soon as he got close he slipped off his board, treading water and trailing it behind him on the leash tethered to his ankle. The nearly drowning guy had fallen silent after he’d yelled, and Takaki had hoped that it was because help was on the way, but when he got close he saw the guy’s head fall under the water, and he cursed, reaching out and grabbing at the guy’s arm, immediately feeling the other man cling to him as he pulled his head back above the surface.
Takaki pulled his board closer, glad that he’d brought his longboard that day instead of one of his smaller ones, and as soon as the guy caught sight of it he threw himself at it, clinging to the edge and hauling his torso up so he was draped across it. Takaki hung on with one arm, still treading water with his feet, and he watched as the guy gasped for air, his limbs limp now that he wasn’t fighting to keep himself alive. He was surprisingly pretty, with thick pouty lips and skin that was almost blindingly white, with big innocent eyes like a baby animal. Takaki pulled himself up next to the guy, sitting on his board, and after a few moments he said
“Are you going to be okay?” There was a pause, and then the guy said
“Can you get us back to shore?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll be fine.” The response was almost sassy, and Takaki snorted a little, bemused.
“Who are you?” He asked, and the guy turned his head to look at Takaki properly, his eyes raking over Takaki’s body, face neutral. But then he smiled, blinking slowly, and he responded
“Inoo Kei. Thank you for rescuing me, oh handsome savior.” Inoo’s words were confident, and his tone was blatantly flirtatious, but he was shaking with fatigue, his eyes betraying his subsiding fear and consequential relief at being saved, and Takaki nodded, opening his mouth to make some charming comment, because hey if this guy wanted to flirt he was very open to that. But then Inoo moved to push himself up so he was sitting on the board, his body shaking like a leaf, limbs weak, and Takaki was reminded of the harrowing situation they’d just barely avoided only moments before. Now-while they were still bobbing out in the ocean, a good ways from shore-was not the time to be trying to score a date, regardless of how pretty this guy was, and so he said
“Okay Inoo Kei. Try to hang on, and I’ll get us back to the beach.” Inoo ended up draped across Takaki’s back, as Takaki paddled with his arms, pulling them through the water and toward the beach. It took much longer to get into shore than it had to reach Inoo, the extra weight of a second person dragging him down, but Takaki kept his lips pursed and didn’t complain or ask Inoo to help, the other man barely able to move at all, from what Takaki could tell. He had no idea how long Inoo had been out there, or why, and his few attempts at small talk were met with short, almost delirious sounding responses, and eventually Takaki decided to drop the whole “getting to know him” thing, at least until Inoo was on land.
When the water got low enough for him to stand, the top barely reaching the edge of his swimsuit he pulled Inoo into his arms, the other man not protesting, just curling into Takaki’s chest, the surfboard trailing along behind them as Takaki walked the rest of the way into the beach. Inoo was light and lean, not a whole lot to him, and it was easy to see how a skinny thing like him could get dragged out to sea. It was relieving to feel sand under his toes, Takaki setting Inoo down on the sand, the pale man making no move to get up, just rolling onto his back and sighing, his eyes fluttering shut. Takaki was afraid that he was going to fall asleep, but then Inoo said
“Thank you. You’re an angel.” There was a pause, Takaki not really sure what to do with that, and then Inoo added “My angel. My sexy, surfing angel.” Takaki couldn’t hold in a chuckle at that, breaking out into a smile at the silly proclamations. But then Inoo’s head snapped up, neck craning at an awkward angle to look at Takaki, and he said “Can I take you out tomorrow night? I can’t tonight because of the whole nearly dying thing, but I think I’m free tomorrow. No other harrowing activities planned. After saving my life the least I can do is give you a free meal. And maybe get to know my savior.” The flirtatious tone was back, those big eyes staring up at Takaki almost sultry, and Takaki was amazed that someone that had nearly just died could look that sexy. Inoo was amazingly charming, and Takaki couldn’t keep a grin off of his face. He nodded, watching the beautiful man he’d just pulled out of the ocean smile as he said
“Sure.”