I'm not broken (RoyalChaos)

Chapter 26 - The deep blue sea

Chilled's perspective

The weather was great, it was a bright and sunny day, no clouds in the sky and a gentle salty breeze swirled through the air every once in a while. After our little talk at the hotel, Ze and I had decided to go out for a walk on the beach and then find a nice restaurant for the evening. We were walking close to eachother, very slowly to fully enjoy the beautiful day. My hands were in my pockets, so were Ze's. I guessed that he didn't really feel comfortable showing public affection after what had happened on the plane. It made me really upset though, we should supposed to be able to feel happy and comfortable, not forced to hide who we were. But I wouldn't push it. If he wanted to take my hand or kiss me, he could. I had no problem with that anymore. I'd just let him decide how far he wanted to go in a public area like this. Every once in a while our arms would brush against eachother and every time Ze would blush and straighten his arm so it wouldn't come close to mine again. I hated this tension between us, I hated that Ze didn't feel entirely comfortable. My glance drifted off into the crowd of people who were also enjoying the beach. There were couples of all ages, families with children, friends, but nowhere did I see another same-sex couple. It was kind of a downer to feel like you were the only one who was different. I sighed loudly and kicked away an empty water bottle that was just lying around there. I saw Ze look at me from the corner of my eyes, but I ignored it. I was frustrated that we couldn't just act normal like we did at home every day.

"Do you wanna go for a swim?", Ze asked me and I raised my head to look at him.

I wasn't really fond of big open waters like the ocean, and I usually didn't swim out that far. The darkness of the water and the fact that I couldn't see the ground made me scared sometimes. It also hadn't really helped that I had recently been at a museum that showed just how deep the ocean was. I remembered that it had been this tall sign with an illustration of a human on top, the human being downsized that it was about the size of an ant. And then it went down and down and down and down until the sign finally found an end with the words 'It's not even certain if the ocean is this deep, as no human could dive down so far before'. But I didn't want to disappoint Ze, so I accepted his offer. We stripped down to our bathing shorts which we had been wearing underneath and slowly made our way to the water. I didn't have a problem with the water yet, it was actually really nice to cool down a bit. I grinned and splashed Ze with some of the salty water, causing him to shriek and shoot me an angry glance before returning the favor. Just moments later we were splashing around and squealing like little kids, trying not to get any of the salty water in our eyes or mouths.

"Timeout!", Ze called with a giggle and jumped around on one foot, "I think I got algae stuck between my toes".

I chuckled and watched him as he hopped around trying to get the plant off of him. This was my chance. I came closer with an innocent grin on my face, pretending to be interested if he'd manage, but then quickly wrapped my arms around him and swooped him off his feet bridal-style. He squirmed and shrieked at first, but then relaxed, laid his arms around my neck and smirked as I carried him further into the water.

"I like it when you carry me like that", he purred and gazed up into my eyes.

"Oh, really?", I grinned, the water level was at my waist now.

But before he could reply, I dropped him and he went under with a splash. As he came back to the surface he looked offended and I couldn't help but laugh at his expression. He joined my laughter, and as he came close again to wrap his arms around me, I let him. I was glad that he atleast had the courage to be affectionate out in the water. He glanced up into my eyes and gave me one of his adorable smiles before gently pressing his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and tried to stand still as the waves were pushing against my legs. Ze opened his mouth a bit and nibbled on my lower lip, only to immediately back away.