I Loved The Boy In The Sea

Red as a tomato, I tell you

Keith's POV:

"Ooooooh, Shiro's in trouble," Matt egged on, before his voice was drowned out by Keith and Shiro arguing once more.

"You know I hate the bloody sea!" Keith snapped. "I ain't going- you can't make me!"

"Listen, there was no other way to get you to tag along!"

"Is Adam even coming to this?"

"No, he isn't, he canceled last minute," Shiro argued, holding up his hands to surrender. "But you never come to these parties, I just want you to have some fun! Get out of your comfort zone!"

"I can't believe I woke up this early in the morning just to show up to some beach!" Keith groaned.

"It'll be fun, I promise!" Shiro tried.

"You said the same thing about watching a documentary of how paint dried, Shiro." He pointed his finger directly into his older brother's face. "Paint. Drying."

"But it was fun, wasn't it?"

"You're impossible!" Keith groaned in exasperation.

"Look, it'll only last the day, it's summer vacation-"

"In the boiling hot sun, where I don't got sunscreen. I'll look like a tomato. As red as a tomato, I tell you!" Keith hissed.

"That's why I got you some ahead of time-"

"You planned this didn't you?" Keith realized, suddenly unbuckling his seat belt to lunge over to the back seat.

"Out of the way, Pidge." Keith huffed, shoving Pidge off to the side with no remorse.

As his legs dangled uncomfortably from the seat, every now and then kicking Shiro, Keith dug out his luggage. Pushing away the other bags, his hand reunited with the smooth handle of the luggage, and with a firm grip, he pulled out the stuffed thing. Keith struggled to unzip the zipper, probably it being a bad thing to stuff it to the point it kind of looked like a balloon. After a few unsuccessful and aggressive pulls, Keith's fingertips began to hurt, but finally ripped open to see his poor dorito chips soar out, and smack onto the roof of the car.

Keith was seething with rage, as his eyes was met with the view of a pair of swim trunks, a pair of bright red flip flops, a towel, and a bottle of sunscreen.

He snatched the bottle and his bag of chips, slithered back to the passenger seat, and shoved the bottle up to Shiro's face. "You 100% planned this, didn't you?"

Shiro pushed the bottle away with his pointer finger. "I'll admit it. Yes, I did."

Keith glared at the bottle, slightly hoping lasers would shoot out of his eyes and burn the sunscreen to a flame. "This is the waterproof kind."

"Tomatoes suck as dildos." Matt nodded seriously.

"Why are you saying it like that as if you have experience-" Pidge raised an concerned brow.

"I knew that you'd refuse if I told you what kind of party we were going to, so I waited until last minute," Shiro sighed.

"I figured," Keith snapped. "Next time I see Adam I'm telling him that you were scared of pickles as a kid because you thought they were snake babies."

"Look, if you come to this party, I'll buy you a new knife for your collection," Shiro offered. "Also as a way for you to not tell Adam that."

"You think I'm going to agree to this? You literally tricked me!" Keith laughed sarcastically.

"I buy you that new knife you've been wanting."

"I'm saying no, Shiro-"

"The RAINBOW one."

"..."

"Is that a deal?"

"..."

A couple seconds of silence filled the air trapped inside the car. Keith loved his knife collection; he thought of them as mini swords. Maybe he wielded a sword in his past life.

The sound of the car vibrating ever faintly was the only sound to be heard, other than the quiet sounds of breathing. Keith couldn't believe he was considering this ridiculous offer. A day of suffering with his mortal enemy, the sea, for a single knife?

It's just a knife, Keith thought to himself, crossing his arms. Ugh, what the hell. Let's do this thing. Only for a day. It's just a day.

"That better be one damn good knife," Keith narrowed his eyes at his older brother, who visibly perked up.

The sound of three sighs of relief suddenly went off in unison, which somehow annoyed Keith even more than he was already.

"You won't regret this Keith," Shiro beamed proudly. "Heck, you might even thank me one day!"

"Yeah, right," Keith muttered, as he unbuckled his seat belt. "That's going to happen."

He heaved himself out of the car, flinching as the blazing sun made direct contact with his eyeballs. Keith squeezed them shut, rubbing his eyes, already feeling the heat making him sweat through his shirt. Keith sighed, still in the process of accepting his fate to the ocean. Matt and Pidge leaped out of the car window, which was never closed.

"The doors aren't for show, Pidge," Keith heard Shiro say.

"And these buff arms ain't for show, either," Pidge laughed back.

"Are you seriously going to bring your laptop along?" Matt asked.

"Hey, I only came because I heard there was free food." Pidge responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

Keith had his back turned to them as he put the sunscreen bottle under his arm, to use both hands so rip open the dorito bag. As expected, only the powder of the poor chips remained, the rest being crushed to smithereens.

"You coming, Keith?" Shiro called, getting Keith's attention.

Keith looked at the concrete road, knowing his feet would've been burnt to a crisp if it weren't for his sneakers. He could practically see smoke radiate from it. It's only for a day, Keith repeated to himself in his head.

Keith turned around to drag himself over to Shiro's side, who had his hands full with pulling up the trunk door, juggling his own luggage, Matt and Pidge's as well. Keith heaved his luggage from the back of the car, watching as a sock fell to the ground. He forgotten to zip it back up, so rogue pieces of clothes were trying the sneak away.

He bent down, stuffed the sock back, and used all his strength to zip it up again. He could hear Pidge giggling at him, but didn't care at this point to make a snarky response back.

"Okay party people, off we go!" Shiro chirped, tossing Matt's stuff to an unsuspecting Pidge, who nearly toppled over.

Keith pulled the keys to the car out of ignition lock, locked it, and added another sigh. He didn't bother catching up with the others, he was quite confident in his running skills.

Keith put down the doritos, lifted up the sunscreen bottle, and squirted a handful of the lotion onto his palm. Keith then proceeded to take it, and slap it onto his forehead, cheeks, the bridge of his nose and his chin. He made sure to smear it onto his neck, and under his ears.

Sunburn, be gone. You ain't frying this bitch.

Does he look like an under-budget clown? Yes. Does he care? No.

But at least it's better than looking like a tomato.

Keith paused, narrowing his eyes. "You won't regret this Keith," Shiro beamed proudly. "Heck, you might even thank me one day!"

"Why did he say it like that? It's not like his stupid beach party isn't going to change my life." Keith grumbled under his breath, before stepping into the blazing sun.

If only he knew back then.