11: Vanilla & Coconuts

Kris was driving through an area unfamiliar to Tao, the road eerily quiet and lined by trees on each side with the pastel light of morning breaking through the shadows.

Tao brushed aside his raven bangs and craned his neck for a better view. “Where are we going?” he inquired.

Kris readjusted his sunglasses and detached his gaze from the road long enough to glance at his passenger. “I’m taking us to this really great surfing spot. There’s a tropical storm working its way in toward the coast. Which means lots of big waves.” He grinned cheekily at that before training his eyes back on the road.

“Does that happen often?” Tao was legitimately curious. There was still a great deal he didn’t understand about island life. In any case, learning about it would be a good place to start if he ever planned on deciphering Kris before the summer was up.

“Not really.” Kris squinted at an oncoming road sign before flipping his turn signal. “That’s why everyone jumps on it.”

Tao accepted that explanation as they took a left down a narrow gravel road, the surrounding greenery clawing at the Jeep and clinging to its side mirrors. Tao released a hiss when a tiny branch lashed at his forearm, leaving a pinkish welt across his skin.

“Watch out,” said Kris a little too late. His cocky smirk was soon wiped away when an overhanging branch caught him across the temple, eliciting a curse from the surfer as sunglasses were thrown askew. “Dammit!” he growled, fixing his lopsided frames right as the Jeep hit a large bump in the road. Kris fumbled with the steering wheel, struggling to keep the vehicle on course. Finally, they broke through the brush and into a large clearing.

The beach was beautiful in the most simplistic of ways--white sand contrasted by dark blue water with the coral glow of sunrise creeping across the sky. There was no beach access, only a small sandy area surrounded by palm trees and littered by dried up fronds. Although crammed full of vehicles, Kris managed to squeeze in next to the trunk of a particularly large tree, blocking Tao’s exit.

“Crawl on out, Taozi.” Kris held open his door with a grand outward swoop of his arm. It would’ve appeared gentlemanly if not for his amusement with the Tao’s displeased grumbling.

Hopping out of the Jeep and onto the sand, Tao helped Kris untie and pull their two surfboards from the top of the Jeep. Then they kicked off their sandals and tossed them into the vehicle’s floorboard before pulling off their shirts--Kris confidently removing his while Tao did so with hesitation.

On their walk down the beach, Tao noticed several surfers floating among the swells and stared open-mouthed at the massive waves tumbling violently close to shore. “Um… we’re not… are we?” he gulped.

Kris ventured right, surfboard tucked securely under his arm as he led them further down the beach. “Yup!”

“Are you insane?” Tao’s voice hiked up an octave as he watched a surfer plow head first into a merciless wave, surfboard flying into the air as the wave broke and swallowed the young man whole. “This has death written all over it!” Tao nearly dropped his longboard, but quickly readjusted his grip so he could catch up to Kris.

“Relax.” Kris pointed to an area down the beach where a small peninsula protruded from the shore. The surf looked considerably calmer there. “Normally, I would just plow right through it. But since you’re with me, if we go in down there, we’ll be fine. All I need you to do is spot for me once we reach the pipeline.”

“Spot you?”

“I know these surfers, Taozi. They’ll mow you down just to catch the next wave. What I need you to do is keep a good lookout, make sure no one drops in on me at the last second.”

Tao was at a loss for words. This was not what he expected. “Well how in the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“You’re a pissy little fire pistol. I have faith in you,” replied Kris, grin wide and pearly-white.

Tao loathed that stupid grin with a passion. It never failed to ignite sparks that danced along his nerve endings. “This is going to be such a joy,” he droned sarcastically, “I can already tell.”

“Last one to the peninsula has to buy the other one breakfast!” Kris took off without warning, feet kicking up sand as he ran across the beach, surfboard held above his head.

“You jerk! That’s not fair!” Tao hoisted his much heavier board into the air and started running, although, nowhere near as fast as Kris. In the end, he lost by a long shot but refused to buy breakfast on the grounds that, “s didn’t deserve breakfast. They deserved to eat sea water and choke on their own ego.”

They dashed into the water together, and falling gracefully onto their surfboards, paddled along the backside of the pipeline. Kris was impressed with Tao’s ability to keep up with him, no doubt a product of the younger’s not-so-secret early morning surfing sessions. Tao received a surge of pride, cheeks flushing in response to the approving glint in Kris’ eye. They stopped just short of the other surfers. It went without saying that Tao and Kris were not welcomed. The abhorrent glares from the floating group was indication enough. However, Kris appeared unbothered as he straddled his board and eyed the incoming swells.

“Okay, so this is how things are gonna work,” Kris began seriously, “When I say ‘spot me!’ you spot me. Got it?”

The instructions seemed simple enough. “Um… o-okay.” Tao straddled his board and dangled his legs into the water, goosebumps forming across his skin at the pleasantly warm temperature. He still didn’t know what he was doing, and in all honestly, couldn’t figure out why Kris was entrusting him with something so important. Tao was a city kid hanging out with the pros (or what he considered pros anyway). He was way out of his league and almost positive that he looked it too.

“You see those guys over there?” Kris nodded toward the surfers, “They consider this their turf.”

“But that’s stupid. It’s the freaking ocean.”

“Yeah, I know. Good luck trying to tell them that.” Kris sighed as a large swell rolled in, lifting them up and back down on its path towards shore.

Tao focused on the gentle slosh of the ocean, the cool morning breeze, and the bristling surfers from across the way. But none of those things could overshadow Kris’ powerful presence in the water--gaze focused and determined, muscles clenching and releasing in anticipation of the perfect wave. Tao had never felt this inferior and self-conscious before, and he wasn’t sure how to process that slice of information.

“SPOT ME!” Kris startled Tao as he plopped stomach-down onto his board and began plowing towards shore. Tao couldn’t turn around fast enough as a surfer quickly worked his way in behind Kris. Tao cursed and stretched out across his longboard, paddling as fast as he could.

Right as Kris was about to drop into the wave, the surfer trailing behind him moved to do the same, but was stopped by someone grabbing ahold of his ankle and yanking him back. The young man turned to discover a raven-haired individual staring him down with distaste.

“Don’t. Even. Think. About it.” Tao enunciated the words strongly before releasing the stranger's ankle.

“Who died and made you lord of the ocean?” retorted the wide-eyed individual. He had a boyish physique, and although Tao had a feeling the guy was probably older than he looked, it did little to break his determination.

“Don’t do it again. I don’t wanna add murder to my list of life qualifications.” Tao smirked at his genius comeback before sitting up on his board to see if Kris had made it--and sure enough, he had.

Tao’s heart skipped a beat and his jaw fell open.

Kris was shredding the wave with the skill and grace similar to that of a pro surfer--board gliding with ease up to the crest and back down, kicking up spray, long fingers grazing the water as he cruised down the pipeline. Tao watched Kris' display of deep-rooted passion for the sport, and with a gulp, realized just how much he wanted to see the surfer happy and smiling. Tao wondered why. Why was he willing to protect Kris? Why had he opened his heart to someone so easily? With a racing pulse, Tao reached a startling conclusion, and it nearly knocked the breath right out of his lungs.

A splash of ocean water to the face jolted Tao out of his revelation. He blinked the offending water from eyes, vision refocusing to reveal the boyish surfer at no more than an arm length's away. “You’re not from around here, are you?” asked the surfer.

“No,” Tao replied simply. After all, he had no reason to hide the truth.

“Well since you’re new,” continued the young man, “I’ll give you some free advice.” He paddled up to Tao and nodded his head toward a lone, exceptionally tanned surfer not too far away. “See that guy over there? That’s Jongin. You’d do well to stay out of his way.”

Tao snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Just stay out of the way. The last guy that invaded our turf left with a bloody nose.”

“Like I said,” reiterated Tao with an annoyed huff, “I’ll keep that in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have some more spotting to do.” Then he left to meet up with Kris who had already finished his run.

“You were talking to Kyungsoo?” Kris seemed surprised as they fell back into position, eyes darting over to see Kyungsoo chatting with his friends, all of them turning to look in Kris and Tao’s direction.

“Yeah, why?”

“When I come here, that entire group gives me a hard time, which is why I don’t like coming. But this spot’s one of the best so, beggars can’t be choosers.”

Laying comfortably across his board, Tao rested his chin on interlocked fingers and watched Kris attentively.

“What?” asked Kris, half laughing and half serious, because rarely did Tao ever look at him for very long.

“I just had a mortifying thought,” supplied Tao, a softer edge to his tone than normal.

“Oh really?” Kris stretched out across his board and mimicked Tao’s position. “And what would that be?”

“That I don’t hate everything about you like I thought I did.”

Kris raised a brow. “So basically you like me now,” he grinned devilishly. This was a massive improvement to the usual I-wanna-choke-you-to-death attitude that Tao normally had.

“Well I don’t hate you, if that’s what you’re asking.” Tao narrowed his eyes, managing to dodge a complete admission to his feelings, but it didn’t make him feel any less embarrassed. Tao had fought valiantly against his growing affections for the surfer, but in the end, realized that it was pointless. Kris was a force to be reckoned with, and as Tao had oh-so-conveniently discovered, it was much easier to accept Kris than it was to try and push him aside.

Kris’ smile stretched from cheek to cheek. “I’ll take it,” he said, dishing up a large handful of water and throwing it at Tao.

Tao tried dodging but fell into the ocean instead. When he resurfaced, Kris was straddling his board, doubled over in obnoxious laughter. It gave Tao a strong sense of deja vu. It wasn’t all that long ago that Tao had fallen into a tidal pool on the beach, only to find some idiot with blonde hair laughing at him--just like now. Tao grabbed his board, aimed it, and pushed hard. It knocked Kris off of his board with a surprised grunt.

Tao verbally gloated over his mini victory, but several seconds passed, then several more, and Kris had yet to resurface. Worry began to prickle at the back of Tao’s mind. Had something happened to Kris? He frantically searched the water’s surface for any sign of the lanky surfer with no luck.

“Kris? Come on! This isn’t funny!” Tao swam to the area where Kris had fallen into the water. “Kris, knock it off! You’re supposed to be training you idiot! Not playing pranks on peop--” Tao was yanked under water, thankfully, right after an inhale.

The saltwater burned his eyes, but even through the haze he could see Kris smiling at him, no more than just a few inches away. Tao tried to swim up but Kris grabbed him by the hips, somehow managing to keep them both in place beneath the water’s surface. Was Kris teasing him? Was this a joke? Because it wasn’t funny.

Tao’s confusion must have registered, because Kris reached out and ruffled his hair beneath the water, pulling gently on a several strands between thumb and forefinger. Tao became lightheaded from a combination of things--the heated press of palms against his hip bones, Kris’ dangerously close proximity, the growing lack of oxygen to his brain. Several flags flew up in warning, signaling to Tao that his impending demise was just upon the horizon.

Kris leaned in and wrapped his arms around Tao. Soft lips trailed down the length of Tao’s nose, across a cheekbone, then to the corner of his lips where they hovered expectantly. Tao feared Kris would be able to hear his rampant heartbeat, or worse, feel it. But that didn’t stop him from closing the distance between them and pressing their lips together. Running his fingers through blonde hair, Tao shivered at how firm and scorching Kris' body felt against his own.

It was with a small smile that Kris kissed Tao more urgently. His patience had paid off. He liked pushing the younger's buttons more than anything. It was his favorite game, but some things needed to be dealt with delicately, and Tao was one of them.

Tao’s eyes were wide when they finally broke the surface gasping for air. Mouths tingled, a testimony to what had just occurred. There was no denying it, and there was certainly no use in brushing it off as nothing. Kris chuckled, the sound deep and soft as he placed a fingertip to Tao’s forehead and pushed the younger away. “That’s what you get for knocking me off my board.”

“Wh-Wha… YOU! THAT’S NOT FUNNY!” Tao slammed a fist into the water. “Why would you even!”

Kris cackled as he climbed onto his board. “Do you really want me to answer that? Because you already know the answer. But if you really want me to say it, Taozi, I’ll say it.”

Tao had to think hard on that for a second. “NO! THAT’S OKAY. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT.” He swam back to his longboard, and in his haste to regain at least one measly sliver of composure, nearly fell off of it again.

Kris smirked. “I figured you’d say that.” Then he whipped back around to lay stomach-down on his board. “Spot me! This looks like a good one!”

“What?” Tao was a million different levels of flustered and confused. They’d just kissed in the water for the second time, and although it had been nice, he needed some time to think about it.

Tao was so distracted that he neglected to see the surfer Kyungsoo had warned him about, Jongin, was coming up strong behind Kris. Right as Kris dropped into the wave, Jongin did too, clipping Kris on the shoulder blade with the tip of his board. Kris ate water as he fell head first into the wave, body tumbling and rolling as the wave rushed toward shore.

When Kris resurfaced, he saw Jongin grinning smugly and knew who the culprit was. He touched a hand to the burning area on his shoulder and felt his anger soar at the sight of blood coating his fingertips. It was the last straw. Jongin had gone too far, and Kris was determined to make it known.

The two surfers made it to shore at the same time, and when they did, Kris pulled the cord off of his ankle and threw his board onto the sand. “Just tell me one thing Kim Jongin. What in the hell is your ing problem!” Kris stomped over to the brunette surfer and pushed him as hard as he could.

Jongin held his ground pretty well, seemingly unrattled by Kris’ display of strength. “Problem? There’s no problem at all, Kris. Just claiming my wave since this is our beach.” Jongin stuck his surfboard into the sand as if it were some flag of ownership.

“You’re a ing !” growled Kris, wincing at the sudden sting and accompanying sensation of hot blood that ran down his back.

“So I’ve been told,” replied Jongin indifferently, squinting at the sun crawling it’s way up the sky.

“You won’t be so proud of yourself when I win Maverick’s.”

“What, like how your dad won it? Oh! Wait!” Jongin feigned surprise, smacking his fist down onto an open palm, "That’s right! I forgot! Your dad didn’t win Maverick’s did he? ‘Cause if I remember correctly, your dad died before he even had a chance to--UMPH!”

Jongin was knocked face down into the sand before he even knew what had hit him. Kris blinked in shock as Tao straddled Jongin’s back and grabbed two fistfuls of the surfer’s hair.

With each vicious word, Tao rammed Jongin’s face into the sand. “YOU - slam! - STUPID - slam! - ING - slam! - . HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO HIM!” Tao pulled Jongin’s hair until he was arched at an unnatural angle. “THIS IS YOUR BEACH YOU SAY? LAST TIME I CHECKED, I DIDN’T SEE YOUR ING NAME ON IT. BUT MAYBE YOU CAN CALL IT YOURS AFTER I WRITE YOUR NAME ACROSS THE SAND IN YOUR OWN DAMNED BLOOD.”

Jongin thrashed against Tao’s weight, curses muffled by the sand which had filled his mouth. Suddenly, several people whom Kris recognized pulled Tao off of their friend and threw him aside. Tao stumbled into Kris’ arms and whipped back around to glare daggers at the bloody-nosed surfer being lifted from the sand.

“Damn!” laughed a tall curly-haired guy, “He got you good, man!”

“Honestly, though, you had it coming,” said Kyungsoo, grin poorly hidden.

“Come here,” cooed a pale-skinned surfer with dark hair and a gentle smile, “There’s a way to do things and a way not to do them,” he said as he helped Jongin sit down and carefully wiped the sand off of his face. Then he turned to Tao and narrowed his gaze. “And you need to learn some self-control.”

Tao scoffed. “Self-control? Why don’t you try teaching him that! As far as I’m concerned, he ing deserved it!” He crossed his arms and stuck his nose into the air.

Kris patted Tao’s shoulder and spoke halfway into his ear and halfway over his shoulder so the others could hear. “Come on, Taozi. Let’s just go."

“That’s probably a good idea,” said another surfer Tao had never seen before. He had a dangerous eye-smile that implied the horrible things that their group was capable of should Tao and Kris decide not to leave. “Better yet, just don’t come back.”

“YOU BROKE MY ING NOSE YOU !” Jongin leaned forward over the sand as one of his friends took off their shirt and offered it to him. He placed it to his nose with a wince and a hiss as he tried to stop the blood from flowing.

Tao scoffed. “Yeah! And I would’ve done a lot more than that had your friends not bailed you out!”

“Tao…” warned Kris through his teeth, “Let’s just go.” He didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing that they hadn’t been beaten to a pulp yet. Surely revenge would follow in some fashion should they manage to scrape by today. Kris quickly snatched up his board, barked at Tao to do the same, then pulled the flustered youth away from the buzzing group of surfers before all hell broke loose.

Kris and Tao made quick work of fastening their boards to the top of the Jeep. Kris cranked up the engine and headed back out the way they'd came. It wasn’t until they were back on the paved road that he finally spoke to Tao. “Listen uh… thanks… you know… for back there.”

Tao cleared his throat and focused on the trees whizzing by. “It was no big deal. That guy just pissed me off is all.”

“I could tell.” Kris tried to hold back his laughter, but all he could see was Tao slamming Jongin’s stupid face into the sand, and he lost it. The Jeep swerved as Kris erupted into boisterous laughter that had Tao fighting back a grin. Kris’ laughter was pretty damn contagious at times, and Tao soon let go of his inhibitions, laughing with Kris as they drove towards town.

Once their laughter died off, they slipped into a comfortable silence. Tao craned his neck for a look at Kris’ shoulder and sighed. “Your shoulder’s bleeding all over the seat you know.”

“What?” Kris flinched at the ache in his shoulder as he turned for a look, taking note of the red streaks staining the faded leather seat. “.”

“Here…” Tao picked up Kris’ shirt from the floorboard, folded it into a neat square and placed it gently to the bleeding wound. “Now lean back.”

Kris did as instructed, gaze flickering from the road to Tao, and smiled crookedly. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You’re welcome.” Tao leaned back into his seat, resting an elbow to the top of the passenger-side door. “Guess this means no breakfast. We should get you cleaned up first.”

Kris snorted. “Ohhhhh no!~ No, no, no. You’re not getting out of buying me breakfast, Taozi. A deal is a deal.”

“Aww come on!" Tao pouted. "That race wasn’t even fair! You got a head start! And I never agreed to it anyway!”

“Oh really. Well in that case I’ll just do this…” Kris took a deep breath and yelled into the wind at the top of his lungs. “I LIKE HUANG ZITAO!~ EVEN THOUGH HE FIGHTS LIKE A GIRL AND TASTES LIKE VANILLA!~”

Something that sounded like a cross between a growl and a scream erupted from Tao’s throat as he slapped his hands across Kris’ mouth. The Jeep to veered into the other lane, tires screeching before Kris quickly corrected the error.

“OH MY GOD!” cried Tao, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

The surfer mumbled against Tao’s hands, eyes gleaming with mirth. The two made direct eye contact, and Tao flushed a deep scarlet. He pulled his hands from Kris’ lips as if he’d just been burned. “I… I don’t taste like… vanilla. Do I?” Tao was sitting in his seat again, head turned away from Kris' penetrating stare.

Kris smiled. “Only a little bit.”

Several minutes passed with neither of them speaking. They were good at this--comfortable silence. It was during those times that Tao felt like he could get used to hanging out with Kris everyday. He was going to miss him when he had to go back to the city to finish up senior year.

“Coconuts,” said Tao suddenly.

“Hm?” asked Kris, brow raised.

“You taste a little bit like coconuts.”

“Coconuts huh?”

Tao nodded but still refused to look at Kris.

“Coconuts and vanilla,” Kris mused aloud, “That’s sort of an odd combination.” He grabbed his sunglasses off the dashboard and perched them on his nose with a beaming smile. “Guess that just makes us extra special then.”

Although they couldn’t see it, they both knew the other was smiling.