Tao smiled softly to himself as he felt the cold sand between his feet; wiggling his toes a bit until they were completely buried. Goosebumps formed across his body when the misty breeze tickled his arm and neck as if to welcome him back.

The sun had almost set, sending an eerie glow of oranges, reds, and yellows across the pale blue landscape. He breathed in the salt water air and hummed in satisfaction. Perfection was in his grasp: the time of day, the not-too-hot-not-too-cold weather, and the noise of the ocean waves calmly crashing against the rocks. All elements worked together to create an almost perfect relaxing atmosphere the maknae strived for on his walks.

Almost.

He was pulled from his thoughts when a dry crunch and low toned cursing filtered through the air. Tao opened his eyes and turned around to look at his duizhang, who had managed to get his foot tangled in a pile of seaweed.

Kris frowned as he kicked the tentacle-like plant off his foot and stepped closer to Tao, "Such a pain in the . Just a heads up, it feels as gross as it looks."

The maknae rolled his eyes and squatted down, picking off a kelp leaf that had stuck to the leader's leg, "Be careful of where you step, Kyun Hyun will be mad if you get stung by a jelly fish on your foot and can't dance."

Kris laughed, "I always have my voice, as long as I don't swallow one I think I'll be good."

Tao frowned and stood back up, "If I knew you were going to be like this, I wouldn't have invited you."

"What did I do?!"

"You're loud and you’re sarcastic, you’re killing the mood ge.”

“What mood?”

He motioned around him, “This! This calmness… I don’t know how to explain, but everything is just so… peaceful.”

“Yeah, I can see how seaweed can be so relaxing.”

“It is if you don’t step on it,” Tao huffed and started his walk down the beach. Kris effortlessly caught up to him, the maknae’s legs may be long but his were longer.

There were hardly any people on the beach this late, due to the temperature dropping and the sun slowly sinking into the water, but every now and then the two boys would pass a couple walking back to the main road or children running from their parents. The leader spotted a pair of twins digging in the sand by the water, screaming with delight when they found a small crab or sea shell.

He smiled, their actions reminding him of Tao when he was still a trainee. Kris looked over to talk to the maknae about it, but quickly realized that he was walking alone.

Furrowing his brows together, he looked around in confusion for the younger male. He sighed in relief when he spotted him a few feet behind, crouching on the ground with his back turned towards the leader.

Kris walked back and kneeled down beside him, “If you’re thinking of taking home a crab, the answer is no.”

Tao looked up at him and frowned, “Who said it was a crab?”

Kris gave him a confused look and the boy held his hand towards him, revealing three tiny sand dollars in perfect condition, “You’re stopping for this?”

“I like sand dollars; they’re pretty neat if you look at their designs closely,” he smiled, “I do this every time I go here.”

“And what do you do with them? You don’t take them back to the dorm, do you?”

Tao shook his head and stood up, placing the shell’s gently in his pocket before rolling up his pant legs, “You would notice it if I did. Just wait and see.”

Kris rolled his eyes and started walking again, however the elder could see why he enjoyed these moments to himself. There was no distractions, no worries about looking good on stage or being synched during practices. There was no nagging from the managers or scolding from the vocal teachers either, the only thing he had to listen to was the hum of the waves and the high pitched ‘squeaks’ of seagulls.

Yes, Kris understood why Tao took these walks…. Alone.  The leader kept worrying about the boy falling too far behind and would constantly have to remind himself to stop walking and wait for him. Tao continuous sudden stops and digging in the sand started to annoy Kris too. He was under the impression that they would be moving the whole time, not wasting it on ‘treasure hunts’.

He kicked a clump of sand by his feet out of frustration when Tao squatted down for the 13^th time. Either the maknae didn’t hear his little fit or didn’t care because he moved over a little to the left to pick up another sand dollar.

Kris was burning wholes into the ground with his glare, until he noticed a small circular object sticking up from the pile he had just kicked. He used his foot to flip it over and saw the crumbled remains of a sand dollar.

He felt bad for destroying it, but then noticed a small white dot a few feet away and walked forward, using his toe to dig it out of the sand. This one was in perfect condition which made the leader smile. He looked over his shoulder and saw Tao standing up.

The leader quickly walked ahead, not wanting the boy to for helping and what not since he still resented the whole idea of collecting sea shells. However his speed walking made him miss the way Tao’s eyes lit up when he found the shell just a few seconds later. He grinned as he picked it up, examining it for any flaws before putting it in his pocket.

That was how their stroll continued, Kris walking ahead, occasionally digging out sand dollars with his feet and Tao trailing behind, picking them up as he came across them. Soon they were at the end of the beach where they met with giant rock wall and a small, but deep, gap.

“Great, we made it to the end, now what are you going to do with those…” Kris trailed off when Tao stepped beside him and threw the sand dollars down the gap, “What the heck?! You collected them just so you could throw them?!”

“Look down Ge,” Tao got on his knees and leaned over the edge.

Kris didn’t like how far he was off, so he bent down beside him, wrapped a secure arm around his waist, and leaned forward. His eyes widened when he saw the vast amount of seashells and sand dollars collected at the bottom, the clear wave rippled over it to give it the impression of a painting.

“Wow…”

Tao smiled as he looked at Kris’s dazed expression, “Since today is Sunday, I collected sand dollars. Tomorrow I’ll be collecting those spiral shells.”

“This is really cool…”

The maknae nodded and stood up, dusting the sand off his pants, “Thanks for helping me today.”

“What?” Kris frowned, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the foot shaped divots in the ground,” he smirked, grabbing the leader’s arm and pulling him to his feet, “You’re welcome to join me tomorrow too.”

“I thought the romantic panda preferred to walk alone,” the duizhang smiled back, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as he lead them back down the beach.

Not one of my best oneshots, but hey, i'm trying. This was inspired by a trip my dad and i took to the beach a few days ago ^^ Sorry for not updating, my sleeping habits are improving... well they have to since school is gonna start pretty soon. Nooooo~

in other news, I recently played this japanese horror game called Ib and OMG I LOVE IT! GARRY!!!

-cough- anyways thanks for sticking by the not-really-a-fic-but-still-a-fic fic. Ill try and update again, but i need inspiration! Forgive me! Although i think nothing is gonna beat chapter 16.... i like that chapter the most

oh kris... you make me laugh so hard... i love you bby