Chapter Text
His voice hitched when he laughed. "Everyone else is an entire island away, Hinata-kun. You don't need to worry!" Komaeda held Hinata's hand a little tighter than was necessary as he led him down the boardwalk.
The sun had gone down a few hours ago, and Hinata hoped there was no surprise waiting for him on the beach. He'd passed by it earlier, on his way back from investigating the mysterious new Third Island, where the other students were still poking around. He hadn't noticed anything 'surprising' then, and he couldn't imagine finding anything new there now, less than an hour later. He did not want to be surprised.
And yet, here they were.
His toes sunk into the sand as he mentally recreated what he recalled of the beach's appearance: There were palm trees, cliffs in the distance, a few crabs usually... he could picture it all clearly. There was a gachapon machine for some reason. There was the ocean, naturally, and he heard the waves, so he could gauge his distance from the water. They were getting close, and he couldn't hear anything surprising, at the very least.
It wasn't even a surprise that Komaeda had used Hinata's own tie as the blindfold. He was, maybe, a little surprised that he couldn't actually see anything out of it-- he expected it to slip a bit, expected to catch a glimpse of the ground through the little slivers of space where it wouldn't sit flush on his cheekbones. But it was tied snugly against him; every time his gaze darted around involuntarily, he could feel the silk pressed against his eyelids.
The real surprise was that Hinata had sort of agreed to this scenario in the first place -- there was the required preamble of protest, confusion, caution. He dropped the usual suspicious lines that peppered their conversations, careful to make sure Komaeda didn't get the wrong idea about Hinata's opinion of him.
Every encounter with Komaeda somewhat fit the definition of a 'surprise' anyway, so perhaps being told about it beforehand was actually a little comforting.
It's nighttime anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter that much if I can't see, he thought, as Komaeda placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know they were done walking.
"Can I see the 'surprise' now," Hinata was sure the skeptical expression he was making behind the tie could be heard, "And can we hurry it up, before everybody gets back?"
"I said not to worry about something like that, Hinata-kun, that's why we're already wearing our swimsuits!"
Hinata had been so preoccupied with the article of clothing tied around his head, he almost forgot that he wasn't wearing much else.
~~~
Twenty minutes earlier, Komaeda was sitting at the foot of Hinata's bed, kicking his feet. "If anyone comes by, it will look like we're just doing some swimming at night. I'll say 'Oh, Hinata-kun is helping me look for something I lost at the beach,' and because everyone knows how kind you are, they'll believe me," Komaeda watched Hinata change into his dark school-issue swim trunks intently. He was already wearing his own swimsuit, and it looked like it might slide off his narrow hips at any moment. Hinata imagined that moment might not be far off, and realized that such thoughts were impairing his judgment. He did nothing with this information.
"That doesn't have anything to do with 'doing some swimming at night'," Hinata protested, even as he snapped the waistband of his trunks into place. "Why would we be swimming at night in the first place?"
"I know, I know, it's dangerous to go in the ocean at all, much less at night..." Komaeda pressed his fist against his mouth. "We won't actually go in the water, though, so it'll be fine."
"That's not what I meant!" Hinata stomped toward the bed, enjoying for one moment that he could glare down at him, until Komaeda stood up. "I mean, why would you and me be going swimming together at night!"
Komaeda leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead before he could dodge. "Because, I have a surprise for you!"
Then the tie was placed over Hinata's eyes, and that was that.
~~~
A particularly loud wave crashed against the shore, Hinata imagined he could feel the spray. He impatiently reached for the blindfold, but Komaeda stopped him with only a few words. "Hinata-kun, aren't you being too eager?"
His hand froze in mid-air. "Then...hurry up already." A breeze ruffled his hair. Even though it was warm out, he shivered a little.
Komaeda's quiet voice was suddenly right next to his ear, and he jumped. "I thought you had a little more self-control than this, but you should try to keep your hands at your sides."
Hinata bristled at his tone, but before he had time to get angry, he felt Komaeda's fingers slide into the waistband of his trunks. He still wasn't surprised.
"Y-you couldn't wait until tonight for this?" Hinata's knees were already getting weak, and he hated how easy this was. "Now who's the eager one, Komaeda?"
Komaeda kissed his neck and Hinata could feel him smile. "You're exactly right, I was too eager," His voice fractured a little, and he laughed softly. Hinata felt stupid.
"This isn't a surprise," He groaned when Komaeda's hand slipped all the way into his suit and fingers wrapped around him, already half hard. Komaeda replied by stroking him slowly a few times, hair tickling while he kissed his collarbone. Then his hand was gone, and Hinata sensed that he wasn't standing in front of him anymore. He felt slender fingers curled against his hips before his trunks were being pulled down, all the way to his knees, which buckled at the sudden exposure. "H-hey, if someone comes by, this doesn't look anything like night swimming," Hinata's hands reached down for where he assumed Komaeda's head would be, grabbing two fistfuls of hair to ground himself.
Komaeda responded by slowly dragging his tongue up Hinata's length before swallowing him. Hinata choked back a sound, biting his lip too hard, amazed at how much different it felt when he couldn't see it coming. He pushed into Komaeda's mouth almost immediately, either as punishment or thanks, and Komaeda held his hips firmly in place as he started to move his head.
It wasn't just not a surprise-- it was, actually, exactly what Hinata expected.
It had gotten to the point where it was almost difficult to look at Komaeda's face while he spoke during the day, about unrelated matters. Hinata would try to listen to him, because it usually ended up being important, but his mind would wander, watching his mouth move.
Even expecting it, he wasn't sure how much of this he could take while standing up-- He legs threatened to give out, but Komaeda was holding him up, humming occasionally against him.
Then, in between the muffled sounds coming from the both of them, Hinata thought he heard... something. Something mechanical. Something adjusting. It was quiet, and familiar, but he couldn't place it. He tightened his grip on Komaeda's hair and yanked on it to stop him. "H-hey... did you hear that?" Komaeda licked him hard. Hinata yanked his hair again. "I'm serious! What was that sound?"
He took a half-step backward, and heard the sound again. "Fuck, Komaeda, what is that? If that's Monokuma watching us or something, I'm finally, actually going to kill you--" he reached up to pull off his blindfold, not caring what Komaeda thought about it anymore, but his hand smacked into something hard on its way up.
"Mmph," Komaeda pulled away and it sounded like he wiped his mouth, "Hinata-kun, be careful!" He grabbed Hinata's wrist and brought it back down to his side. "If you damage it, we'll be in trouble."
"Damage...what?!" Hinata's other hand shot up to his head and he ripped the tie off. His vision took a moment to adjust as his eyes refocused in the darkness.
Oh, it was the sound of something... refocusing.
He looked to his left, and, inches away from his hips, the huge lens of the surveillance camera was pointed directly at Komaeda's head. It seemed that his mental painting of the beach had neglected a few critical details. Komaeda blinked up at him in the starlight, wiping off a tiny glimmer of saliva at the corner of his mouth.
"Wh-what...what the hell?" Hinata stumbled back, tripping over the swim trunks still bunched up on his legs. Komaeda was on his knees but tried to catch him, grabbing at his waist, and they both tumbled down into the sand. Hinata actually felt a split-second of relief that Komaeda was partially on top of him, so for one moment, his dick wasn't visibly on the record. He smacked his palm on Komaeda's forehead and tilted his head up to look at him. "The hell were you thinking? You want Monokuma watching us fuck around?!"
"Haha, it's a shame you saw it already... I wanted to ask them for a copy of it later," Komaeda shuddered through a laugh, sounding delightfully disappointed.
"Is this the surprise?!"
"Hinata-kun, I didn't expect that we would have time alone today, so I was rushed, and my plan was even shoddier than usual." He really didn't seem that upset. Hinata glared at him.
He tilted his head away from Hinata's palm and leaned around it to kiss his stomach before continuing, "We're constantly on camera, they don't seem to mind," his tongue darted out to dip into Hinata's navel, "...and neither do you, Hinata-kun."
"I'm always trying to forget that we're on camera! It's the only way I can do anything!" Hinata straightened his hand and thunked Komaeda in the head with a chopping motion, hard enough to make him wince. "And there's no way they would ever give you a copy!" Komaeda licked him again, and his shoulders trembled, "A-aren't there cameras at the Market, if you wanted to do something gross like this?" Hinata cringed when he realized he was offering alternatives, instead of throwing sand in his eyes and running back to his cottage.
Komaeda's hand slid up his torso, and he laughed again softly. "But isn't it more fun like this, Hinata-kun?" He was looking down at Hinata's skin, eyes barely visible through his pale lashes. "I wonder what the video quality is like, how much detail it captures when we're this close?"
There was another mechanical sound, and the camera was looking at them again. Hinata felt dizzy and would have toppled over if he wasn't already on the ground, suddenly envisioning it as a third person standing over them, judging them. Judging him. His taste in companions.
"D...do you like having stuffed animals watch you give blow jobs?"
"Hmm, they're probably watching, but we don't know who actually put us here, do we? And if it's being recorded, who knows who might see it later," Komaeda started to move back down between his legs, "It's probably unbearably boring to watch hours of pointless security footage, where no one is dying," he nipped at Hinata's thigh, "Where no one is doing anything of any interest at all." He looked up again and smiled, "Do you think it captures sound, Hinata-kun?"
Then Komaeda's warm mouth enveloped him again, and Hinata clenched his fist around the tie still in his hand, trying to keep from dragging it through the sand. After a few moments of Komaeda doing something with his tongue, Hinata stuffed the knot of the tie in his own mouth and bit down, trying to keep his sounds to a minimum. Without looking up, Komaeda grabbed the end of it and pulled.
Hinata bit down harder at first, groaning in protest, but let go of it the second he started to feel like a dog playing tug of war. He was defeated, and threw his arm over his eyes without comment, his head dropping back in the sand. He let Komaeda hear him gasp, because who cares anymore, and he tried not to think about the camera.
...He tried, he really did try. After a few seconds of honest trying, he peeked from behind his arm to look at it again. Who was behind that lens? Did they have an audience at all? If it was only Monokuma or Monomi-- Hinata halted his train of thought, pushing the images of bears and bunnies out of his mind, so he didn't start to form any unsavory associations with how he was feeling right now.
Komaeda's throat tightened around him and Hinata bit down on his forearm. His other hand squeezed a fistful of sand as he wondered how much pressure and heat it would take to turn it into glass. He didn't bother to warn Komaeda anymore; his desperate whining got louder, and then he arched up-- the only parts of him touching the ground were his head, shoulders, and toes. Komaeda had been hugging his hips tightly, and released him after he finished. Hinata thought he saw the other boy slide two fingers quickly into his own mouth, but he was having trouble focusing on him as he slumped back down to earth.
The camera was still staring blatantly at them, and he wished he had a towel to cover up with. "Why did we have to do this on the beach," he groaned, "There are cameras everywhere, and now I'm all sandy."
"The beach is beautiful at night, and the camera is right here on the ground," Komaeda breathed raggedly, still bent over him, and Hinata remembered that he was still on edge.
Hinata wrinkled his nose. "You should just come right on the lens if you like cameras so much," He leaned forward and deposited his fistful of sand in the middle of Komaeda's back. He stayed still when he felt it, so he wouldn't spill any.
"I think that counts as destroying property, Hinata-kun," he kept his head down as he spoke, back perfectly parallel to the ground, supporting himself with one hand in the sand, and one elbow on Hinata's knee. Hinata added another fistful to the first, tiny grains tumbling down to make a smooth little hill on his spine. In the starlight, Komaeda and the glittering sand looked to be the same shade of pale.
"But what a great way to end your weird porno, and then you could just roll credits over that," He added a third lump of sand, "--Don't put me in the credits though." He added a fourth, and this time some of it spilled over Komaeda's sides in a delicate cascade. Hinata frowned, like his house of cards had crumbled, and started dusting it all off of him, no longer interested. Komaeda leaned forward to assist in his de-sanding, shoulders down, hips up in the air.
Hinata didn't even notice that Komaeda had pulled his own trunks down to his thighs until he was reaching behind himself with mysteriously shiny fingers, which he'd been keeping far away from the sand cascades.
Komaeda's back arched downward until his head was resting on Hinata's stomach, the camera had a perfect view of the backs of his thighs. He watched Komaeda's hand curve, arm pressed firmly against his back. Two of his fingers began to disappear from view, slowly, carefully, as he pushed into himself. His other arm wrapped around Hinata's back, bracing on the ground. He moaned against his bare skin, and it sounded like he was in pain. Hinata instinctively ran a soothing hand through his hair.
"I-if it hurts, you shouldn't push yourself," he said, even as he felt himself getting hard again just from the sounds. In this position, he was pretty sure Komaeda could feel it too.
"I'm... thinking about Hinata-kun," Komaeda's fingers had pushed in as far as they could go, and without giving himself much time to adjust, his wrist started to move.
"Um, yeah...I figured," Hinata realized he'd missed his chance at a better line, and hastened to correct it, "You, uh, think about me a lot, right? When...when you do this...to yourself?"
"Of course... Hi-hinata-kun," Komaeda gripped Hinata's back tightly as he found a rhythm. He closed his eyes, seeming lost in the moment, then suddenly he jerked and cried out, startling Hinata. "Ah, s-stop...!" he dragged his cheek down Hinata's stomach, his own fingers fucking him harder, "Please.. wait..."
"Uh," Hinata considered that maybe Komaeda had lost control of his arm.
"H-Hinata-kun...I can't... take any more, p-please..."
"I'm not doing anything...!" He responded reflexively even though it was obvious, and felt like he was somehow losing to an imaginary Hinata.
"And...Ah--!" Komaeda panted against him, "Wh-why is that, Hinata-kun?"
"Huh? Oh..." Hinata's expression tightened. Komaeda tilted his head up to look at him, so he quickly put two of his own fingers in Komaeda's mouth. He hoped most of the sand on his hands had dusted off in his hair while he was running his fingers through it, but if not, he heard no complaints. Komaeda's tongue slid between his fingers, and he moaned louder around them, as his imaginary Hinata-kun seemingly took him against his will.
Hinata tore his eyes away from the sight of Komaeda drooling on his stomach long enough to look back at the huge, glass eye staring them down. He wondered what the view looked like from the other side. If he were a little closer, he was pretty sure he'd be able to make out details in the reflection.
Komaeda surged forward suddenly, like imaginary Hinata was getting rougher, and his teeth grazed real Hinata's knuckles. He pressed down against his tongue to keep away from his teeth, and then started to thrust his fingers in time with Komaeda's, absently wondering if he'd ever had any gag reflex.
Komaeda whined, and began trying to push a third finger inside himself. The start of tears glinted in his eyes; Hinata pulled his hand away in case he needed to say something, but Komaeda just closed his eyes tightly, eyebrows drawn up, whimpering.
"Hey, y-you really should be careful..." Hinata didn't know what else to do, so he gently put his arms around Komaeda's shoulders, sliding further under him so their heads were nearer together, and pulled him down so there was more contact, more friction.
"Hinata-kun is being... too rough with me," he pleaded, three fingers working inside him, looking at Hinata for help, or affirmation, or some other response.
Hinata wondered if he even needed to be here for this at all, but at least some part of him was glad that he was. "Y...eah, sorry about that, I guess I just... can't help myself."
"And wh-why... can't you... help yourself?"
"Um," Hinata's eyes flickered from Komaeda's face, to his arched back, to his rapidly moving wrist, "Because...you're...filthy?" he tried, wishing it hadn't come out like a question.
"I-I am filthy," Komaeda gasped, finally leaning into him. His thighs were parted on either side of Hinata's hips, and he started to grind down on him, matching the motion of his fingers.
The stimulation was sort of strange and inconsistent, but Hinata was pretty sure he could get into it if he put in a little effort himself. He grabbed the back of Komaeda's neck and pulled him into a messy kiss, hips arching up to meet his, and then suddenly there was a someone else's voice coming from somewhere, and Hinata dropped back into the sand like a rock. Both of them froze.
Hinata had almost forgotten they were in a public space, almost forgotten they were apparently making surveillance footage pornography, almost forgot that his swimsuit was bunched up at his ankles, his tie half-buried in the sand, his dick hard and pressed into Komaeda's thigh. Komaeda hadn't moved yet, hadn't even pulled his fucking fingers out yet, and Hinata wondered if he was trying to get caught.
They stared at each other, Hinata's face horrified, Komaeda's just a bit dazed-- until Komaeda finally pushed himself to his knees, then slowly stood up, tugging up his swim trunks. Hinata leapt to his feet and did the same, throwing his tie around his neck so he didn't leave evidence lying around. He started to run towards the ocean, to Do Some Night Swimming.
Komaeda didn't follow him; he slipped ghostlike behind the cartoonish palm tree that housed the Monomono Yachine, and disappeared from sight. Hinata's feet splashed into the tide, right as Souda appeared from behind the tropical greenery by the Central Island's path.
"Holy fucking shit, Hinata, that was you. I thought I was gonna walk over here and see a dead body. Like, I almost fucking turned right around, because honestly, I don't think I could deal right now. Seriously. What the hell. You scared the shit outta me." Hinata stooped down into the dark waves, he had gotten far enough out that it was up to his waist if he crouched over a little. He turned to face Souda, but couldn't bring himself to respond. Souda blinked, waited, folded his arms. "...Soooo what the fuck are you doing out here, man?"
"I'm helping Komaeda look for something. He lost something," Hinata wondered why he'd put his tie on over his bare torso. He couldn't even see Komaeda, and realized now that Souda couldn't either. "...I'm doing some night swimming."
"Ko-Komaeda is here too?" Souda's expression soured even more, and he rubbed the back of his head nervously through his hat. He looked around the empty beach, then back at Hinata. "Uh, well, good luck with that then." He had already started retreating back on the trail, and was out of sight before Hinata could sputter any more cool sentences.
He slowly sank into the ocean until only his eyes were visible and started blowing bubbles into the salty black brine, waves occasionally lapping over his head completely.
Komaeda appeared from behind the fake tree, scoping out the trail for any more visitors before he took a few halting steps toward the shore. He stopped well out of reach of any waves. "We're alone again, so you should come out of the water, Hinata-kun!" He was holding his hands limply, unnaturally in front of him, speaking loudly so he could be heard over the tide.
Hinata raised his head above the waves. "Why don't you come on over here, Komaeda, let's do some night swimming," his tone matched the ocean's saltiness.
"...Hinata-kun, I told you we wouldn't actually get into the water..." Fine grains of sand glinted on Komaeda's once-shiny fingers.
"Are you afraid of the ocean or something?" Hinata pointed at him accusingly, "Wait, you dove right in when we first started our Heart Throbbing School Trip!" Hinata didn't do an Usami voice, but he aimed for her inflection.
"No...and yes, but it would be dangerous to be in the water with just me alone..."
"...Are you gonna drown me?"
"No...Hinata-kun, please come out of there. It's dark."
Hinata swam a little closer, waves slapping against him, but the water was still thigh-deep if he'd been standing up. He peered at Komaeda's slender, dimly lit figure on the shore, narrowing his eyes.
"You should come in. It's cold as hell. You look like you could use it." He gestured broadly at Komaeda's lingering swimsuit situation, flinging water as far as he could in the process. The driplets didn't even come close to hitting their target.
"I'll be fine over here."
"You can't even finish jerking off, 'cause there's sand all over your hands now. At least come in and wash it off." Hinata was still irritated beyond belief, but was sort of enjoying Komaeda looking so helpless.
"Hinata-kun, if I get into the ocean with you, you will probably get eaten by a shark."
"I will NOT get eaten by a shark," Hinata stood up abruptly, clearly offended, as if being eaten by a shark was some sort of personal shortcoming. He started to really put some effort into trying to splash Komaeda. "If you get in the water, right now, I will...I'll... I will suck you off this time."
Komaeda flinched at the splashes even though they were still a ways off from hitting him. "H-Hinata-kun, you know I would let you do that at any time, you shouldn't put yourself in pointless danger for it..."
Hinata didn't know what to say to that, but he felt a low-key tantrum building up in his gut. He could do it any time, but so far he had not tried, and thought the offer would be too good to pass up. Apparently, he was wrong. He put all his effort into one more big splash in Komaeda's direction, and it still fell short.
"Fine. Fine! At least get close enough to wash your hands off, seriously, it's kind of grossing me out." If Komaeda was actually worried enough to pass on his extremely generous favor, maybe it was time to listen to him. Hinata was still offended, though. His soaking wet tie felt heavy around his neck.
Komaeda's shoulders slumped and he took a few more steps toward the wet sand being lapped by foam. "Okay, I'm doing it, so please get out now." He took another step, and another, until the weight of his toes cracked the wave-worn surface of the damp sand. Hinata swam a little closer to appease him and stood up again, white-capped small waves breaking around his knees now.
Komaeda placed his sand-encrusted hands on the ground and gasped softly when icy black water came rushing up and over him, submerging him to the wrists and ankles.
At that exact moment, Hinata was attacked.
He was certain it was a shark, and he realized he was about to die. He wondered if this counted as murder, and he thought about what sort of evidence the others would find at the crime scene to sully his good name. He could picture Souda giving his testimony that Komaeda was with Hinata on the beach the night that he died. He could see the bullet shattering through Komaeda's claims of innocence.
He still had enough strength to run, and managed a strangled cry before tripping into a small wave and landing face-first in the shallow water.
He kicked his feet to fend off his attacker, but the sharp pain in his leg--
--Well, sharp pain in his foot--
Heel, really. His heel hurt really bad.
Pretty bad, mostly because of the stinging salt water. There was a splash when Komaeda knelt beside him, grabbing Hinata's ankle to still him before gently pinching the small crab off of his foot. He tossed it back into the tide as it began to recede around them.
"Hinata-kun!! Are you okay?!" He still sounded like Hinata's life was on the line.
Hinata let his head drop back into the surf, his ahoge slicing through the water like a fin while the ocean pulled it all back in, leaving him lying now face-down in nothing but soaked sand and his own shame. Komaeda rubbed his shoulder with one hand and started to apologize.
"Leave me here," Hinata groaned, cutting him off. "Leave me here to die." He was too embarrassed to look Komaeda in the eyes, so he turned his head just enough to look at his boney knees buried in sand instead, before the tide rushed back in, stronger than before, to slap them both. It knocked Komaeda over.
Hinata finally pushed himself up, way sandier than before, and grabbed Komaeda's wrist. He started dragging him back to the safety of dry land, but it was a little difficult, because Komaeda didn't grab his arm back. He was making a tight fist with the hand Hinata was trying to hold, and Hinata dropped him on the ground.
"Did you hurt your hand or something?" He figured those crabs were probably out for vengeance with a crab-squisher like Saionji on the loose, or maybe he'd pulled a muscle while Hinata-kun was being rough with him.
"No," Komaeda stood up under his own power, futilely trying to brush wet sand off his legs with his other hand.
"Are you holding something?" Hinata suddenly felt his suspicions rising, and he snatched Komaeda's slim wrist again.
Komaeda huffed, almost a sigh, hesitating before slowly unfurling his fingers to reveal something small -- something shining, shimmering, splendid, sitting in the middle of his palm.
A tiny, perfect, pale pink pearl.
"Surprise..." Komaeda smiled halfheartedly, and held it out to him.
Hinata just stared. "Why do you have that."
"...It washed into my hand while I was rescuing you."
"That's..." Hinata didn't complete his sentence, he couldn't. He looked back and forth between Komaeda's face and the pearl. "...Uh....that's, thanks." He took the tiny bauble between his fingers, and held it up to admire it for a moment, or maybe to see if it was real, before tucking it more securely against his palm.
"Let's just go back, Hinata-kun. There's sand... inside my swimsuit."
"Yeah, mine too."
~~~
They walked together until they reached the gate that lead onto the Hotel grounds. Hinata tried not to limp on his heel, because it really didn't hurt that much, he just couldn't stop thinking about it. He stopped short of putting his hand on the door. At least one person already knew they'd been hanging out tonight, or doing something, maybe it wasn't weird to go in together. Or maybe it was still super, super weird.
Komaeda caught his hesitation and smiled, eyebrows upturned. "I'll wait for a while before I go in after you, Hinata-kun."
Sometimes, he hated when Komaeda was being agreeable. He felt like it threw off his narrative, and still left him seeming unpredictable. Hinata wanted to do something surprising for a change.
Without pausing to really formulate a plan, he pushed hard on the door and charged in. They didn't have far to go, his cottage was so close. He started yelling anyway.
"Komaeda! What do you mean you lost your towel?!"
Trailing behind, Komaeda clasped his hands in front of him and looked right and left, down the rows of cottages. Mioda was halfway in her door, a handful of chips halfway in her mouth. She waved to them. Komaeda slightly waved back. Hinata kept yelling.
"You can borrow mine, but you have to come get it yourself! I'm not gonna bring it to you!" He stormed over to his door and flung it open, standing in the threshold with his arm out. Komaeda looked around again, then back at Hinata questioningly. Hinata's mouth tightened into a flat line.
"Thank you, Hinata-kun!" Komaeda finally spoke up. There may have been someone else hanging out by the pool, but it was hard to tell. "Getting to use Hinata-kun's towel, it must smell like you, I am lucky, after all!" He passed through the door, pretending not to notice Hinata's horrified expression. The door closed.
"Too much!" Hinata grumbled, though he was just happy to be in an enclosed space again. He set the pearl down next to his TV, which he'd never used.
"Too much?" Komaeda sat on his bed, even though their suits were still quite damp.
"Acting."
"Hmm," Komaeda didn't answer. He frowned at the trail of sand they'd both tracked in, but then abruptly perked up. "So, Hinata-kun, do you still want to?"
Hinata was tired, and sandy, and didn't really 'want to' anything. "...Want to what?" He was about to ask Komaeda to get off the bed, but instead he sat down on it too.
Komaeda laughed, and then his voice lowered, "Your offer at the beach, of course."
"Uh?" He sputtered automatically, but he already knew where this was going, and why. He'd forgotten. He wasn't sure if he was happy that Komaeda remembered or not.
"I did touch the water when you told me to, and then I touched it more, to save you!"
"Uh...n-no, I meant I would do it if you got in and went swimming with me...you were being weird about it, so...it was making me... kinda mad..."
"Hinata-kun, you don't need to make up challenges or excuses... I've told you before, you can do anything you want to me, at any time!"
Hinata rigidly folded his arms. "I think... y-you're kind of misreading this situation."
"Am I?" Komaeda brought his fingers delicately up to his mouth, apparently deep in thought. "If that's true, then I apologize. I guess I overstepped my bounds, and should have known better."
Hinata squeezed his arms tighter over his chest and tried not to look at the pitiful expression on Komaeda's face. "I was gonna do it in the water. We're not there anymore."
"If that's the case, I don't mind if you want to do it in the shower. We need to wash off anyway!"
"Um, look..." Hinata found himself speaking before he'd actually come up with anything to say, so the truth came out. "I, uh... thought if I did it in the ocean, it would be kind of...distracting," He felt his face growing hot as he stared down at his own lap, "...And you wouldn't notice that I had no idea what I was doing."
"Hinata-kun!" Komaeda grabbed his arm. "I wouldn't care if you're unskilled at it! Obviously, I don't mind that at all!"
"What's that supposed to m--"
"Because I love you, very much." He pressed Hinata's hand over his heart suddenly, and Hinata's own heart started hammering in his chest. He winced and tried to pull his hand away, but Komaeda was holding him tightly.
"H-hey, don't joke about that, it's weird--" He pulled again, and Komaeda relaxed just enough that he was able to wrench himself away.
"There's nothing weird about it," Komaeda looked at him very seriously, placing his hand flat on the bed. "Hinata-kun, you are an extremely special and important person to me." He said it so earnestly and clearly, Hinata had to scoot away from him a little. He didn't even believe him, there was no way that was true, so why did it feel almost comforting to hear it? Even from someone like Komaeda, who seemed to be constantly lying about all kinds of things?
Special and important.
Of course, everyone here was special and important in some way. Hinata couldn't remember what made him special and important, but Komaeda didn't seem to mind. His heart was still pounding so hard it hurt.
"Let's... just... go take a shower, before we get more sand on the bed."
"Of course, Hinata-kun."