Sunday, August 25, 2013

Smells Like Sunshine

Touta combed back his wet hair, grinning and catching the beach ball that Peters threw. “Oi A, come join us! It’s not fun if you keep in the shade for the whole day,” he called to their other teammate, watching in disbelief as she read a magazine under an umbrella, waving off offers from other men to give her a drink from the beach bar. “I don’t think she can hear us,” he told Peters, who frowned and got out of the water. Touta blinked in surprise. “Hold on, what are you doing?”

“Watch me.”

And at that, a screaming match ensured between the two agents.

“What the hell – Peters, put me down!”

“You have to get in the water, now stop whining.”

“You idiot – I told you to let go of me, the sunblock hasn’t settled in!”

“It already settled! You’re wasting the opportunity, A.”

“The only opportunity I want is sipping a mango smoothie under the su-”

Touta cringed upon seeing her land in the water.

“…did you have to throw her?”

“Maybe,” Peters shrugged, coming back.

“Hold on, where did you throw her?” he pointed a little bit east.

“Did you see a person flying in the air? She was in a magenta bikini,” Olsen interrupted, swimming up to them. Peters laughed and Olsen wore a look of confusion on his face, eyes widening as Peters suddenly sank into the water, as if pulled by something…or someone.

He looked at Touta, who remained impassive.

“Aren’t you going to do anything?” he asked, referring to the two who were wrestling in the water.

“They’ll get over it,” the Japanese laughed.


* * * * *

“Ice cream, Miss A?” Olsen offered, watching as she did her hair into a braid. A tied her wet hair and smiled at the agent, gratefully taking the vanilla-flavored ice cream from him.

“Thanks, Olsen – and you don’t have to call me ‘miss’ during this trip, it’s not like we’re working.” She answered, chuckling. This made Olsen laugh, he taking a seat beside her and starting to eat his ice cream. “Who won chicken?”

“Anderson and Sayuri,” he answered. “They’re fighting off Noriaki and Smiths right now.” A looked at the water, where two pairs of people were battling for first place.

“I’m surprised Peters didn’t play,” she said.

“J didn’t want to get on his shoulders.” A snorted at that.

“I don’t blame her.”

The two laughed at that and eventually quieted down, she watching the rippling waves and he just eating his ice cream.

“A?”

“Hm?”

“Would you like to join me for some coffee over there?”

She looked at him, seeing his slightly hopeful face.

 And then, she nodded.

“Alright.”

* * * * *

Touta slipped on a white shirt and shorts, walking into the beach house the two teams (Squad J and Squad A) shared. Peters was most likely drinking beer with A outside, while the others were lounging around wherever they could. He made his way outside, seeing his teammates talking, Peters with a cold bottle of beer and A with a glass in her hand, most likely containing vodka.

He took a beer from the keg and popped it open, joining the twosome, who seemed to be talking about something rather heatedly.

“…giving him hope like that.”

“It was just coffee, Peters. Dee and J soon came along.”

“Sure…just coffee, hm?”

“It was.” She gave him a steely look. “Olsen’s my friend, Peters. Of course I couldn’t let him go alone for coffee, that wouldn’t be right.”

“What are you talking about?”

Both of them looked at him.

“Nothing,” A answered smoothly. “Just getting Peters to stop hounding me.”

He looked at both with a frown, but shook it off.

“How do you like it so far? We’re going to have more team building tomorrow,” he told the other two. “In the water and on the sand. And no, it’s not the team building which closely resembles a therapy session. This isn’t the Fault in Our Stars, and none of us have cancer.”

“Touta made a reference,” Peters laughed. “Jesus.”

Touta shrugged. “I actually pay close attention to pop culture and whatever, I just don’t say it.”

“Huh. That surprises me,” A said after taking a shot of vodka. “If anyone here uses the most references, it’s Peters. He could have told me the whole premise of the show he was taking about just by using references.”

“That’s true. I’ve been talking Supernatural to her for the past hour,” the American laughed.

“The horror show?”

“More on…well. It’s not like the shows you watch, or the ones A watch. The title says all.” He took another drink. “Remind me to yell ‘GET THE SALT’ if J comes towards me.”

That made Touta choke on his drink a little bit.

“I understood that reference,” he managed.

No comments:

Post a Comment