Beach Day. Gaius x Reader

      “Ah, finally. I've been waiting for this day all year.” Taking a deep breath in through your nose, you took in the smell of the salty sea breeze before slipping out of your shoes and sinking your toes into the warm sand. “It's even better than I remember it.” Smiling inwardly, you slowly made your way towards the shoreline. You knew the water was probably still a bit colder than what you would have liked, but that wasn't going to keep you from at least testing it out. Just before you reached the water, however, a familiar voice called out your name. Recognizing the voice as Gaius' you turned around to see him standing there in his usual attire. Normally, you would have expected as much, but being Beach Day, it struck you as a little bit odd. “Hey, you're not going to put on your swimsuit?”

Smiling, as he almost always was, Gaius shook his head at your question. “Nope. I don't even own one. At least, I don't think I do.”

“Oh, well okay then.” Clutching your towel close, you somewhat awkwardly looked away from him. Gaius' cheeks seemed to be a little flushed. You weren't sure if this was from the heat, or if he was blushing. Seeing as he spent his days in front of a hot forge, you suspected the latter, but couldn't be sure. Still, that might be blush, was enough to make you nervous. “Did you need something?”

“Yes, I did, actually.” Nodding lazily, his smile slowly grew wider. “I had no idea you were so cute.”

“What?” Suddenly incredibly self-conscious, you threw your towel around your body. “Why would you say something like that? Are you trying to sound like a weirdo? Because that's exactly what you sound like.”

Gaius looked more than a little confused by what you'd said. Why would he purposely want to sound like a weirdo? “No, I was just trying to compliment you. That's all.”

“Well don't.” Looking down to your sand covered feet, you let out a quiet sigh. “Compliments like that are weird coming from you. Especially since you aren't even participating in Beach Day.” Though you were secretly flattered by the compliment, your brows knit together, creating an almost worried expression. “It makes you seem like some creep that only left his forge so that he could see cute girls in their bathing suits.”

Instead of being offended or upset with you, Gaius started to chuckle. “But that is why I left my forge. Why else would I come out here?”

His admission caused your shoulders to slump. How could he say something like that with such ease? Anyone else would have been embarrassed, or even ashamed to say something like that out loud. “I don't know if you admitting to that makes things worse, or better.”

“Let's just go with better then. That seems like the best choice.” Eyes closed, Gaius lifted a finger to his chin, as if thinking. “Don't you agree?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Still having a hard time looking at him, you slowly started to back towards the water. “So are you just going to stare at me or what?” As you spoke, you felt a cool wave wash over your feet. Not wanting to go any farther, due to how cold the water was, you had no choice but to stop and face Gaius. Though you had taken several large steps away from him, he seemed to be just as close to you as ever. “You're kind of creeping me out.”

“I am?” Now wide eyed, a sad look flashed over Gaius' face. “That's not what I meant to do.” Dropping his voice to just above a whisper, he continued as if speaking more to himself than he was you. “Maybe Raven's right.” Though Gaius laughed, there was nothing jovial about it. He actually sounded terribly depressed about something. “I don't know anything about women at all.”

“Well that's pretty obvious.” Feeling guilty for having hurt his feelings, you decided to do what you could to make things right. Even if he was acting a little odd, you didn't want to make him sad. He hadn't done anything to deserve that. “What were you meaning to do then?”

“Hm?” Lost in his own thoughts, it took Gaius a second to realize that you were talking to him. When he finally understood your question, his blush re-appeared on his face. “Oh, I was trying to flirt with you.”

“Oh.” The thought that Gaius would even want to flirt with you had never crossed your mind. Though you weren't really sure that knowing that he was trying to flirt would have made you feel any more comfortable. The idea of him flirting was just too odd for you to process. Even if your brain couldn't process it, your heart most certainly did. Its wild fluttering in your chest, paired with the butterflies that now filled your stomach, made this fact undeniable. “I guess I can see that. Kind of. Sorry.”

“It's okay.” Not one to dwell on things, Gaius simply shrugged it off and tried to move on. “I'm not very good at it, am I?”

“It's not that, it's just that I didn't think you'd do something like that. It seems kind of, out of character for you I suppose.” Even now, you couldn't wrap your mind around it. “I guess if you had flirted with me before, it would have been more obvious.”

Your words caused a little smirk to spread across his face. You weren't sure why he was smiling like that, until he finally spoke again. “But I have. Quite a few times too.”

“What?” He had to be joking. You couldn't remember a single time where he had done or said anything at all that you would consider to be flirty. There was just no way. You couldn't be that oblivious, could you? “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“Oh, then yeah.” Trying your hardest to smile, you couldn't help but agree with him. Just how many times had he flirted with you in the past without you even realizing it? If he wasn't aware that you didn't know that he was flirting, you had probably just come across as rude. “You're not very good at it.” Glancing away from him, you cleared your throat. “Either that, or I'm really bad at picking up on things.”

Figuring it was probably him, not you that was at fault, Gaius offered a gentle grin. “We can blame it on me, I don't mind.”

“Okay, if you say so. I'm not going to argue.” The longer the two of you stood there talking, the more appealing the idea of going for a swim became. After what Gaius had just told you, anything that would get you out of this awkward situation sounded like a great idea. The awkwardness wasn't what was prompting you to get into the water though. It was the heat. Even with the cool waves at your feet, the sun beating down on you was quickly becoming too much for you to handle. If Gaius hadn't been there, you would have already dove into the water. Of course doing that meant you would have to take off your towel, which you weren't so sure you wanted to do anymore.

Without you saying anything, Gaius seemed to pick up on the fact that the heat was getting to you. “It's getting warmer out here, isn't it?” Looking around for some sort of shade, Gaius spotted something that brought a twinkle to his eye. At the very entrance to the beach, was a small ice cream cart, that had probably been brought out just for the festival. “Can I buy you an ice cream?”

The minute he said the word “ice cream” you had already made your mind up. Though your mouth was already watering, you couldn't let the opportunity to tease him, just one more time, go by. “Are you flirting again, or are you just trying to be nice to me?”

Taking a moment to think before he spoke, Gaius tilted his head to the side. The action, while simple, was also absolutely adorable. After a few seconds, he gave a cheerful response. “Both.”

His answer was pretty much exactly what you expected it would be, but that didn't mean that it didn't manage to make you blush. Honestly, you weren't sure what had gotten into you. Things like this didn't usually effect you at all. Maybe it was just the heat making you more easily flustered. That had to be it. “Hmm, then I guess that would be okay.”

Taking your hand in his, Gaius started towards the cart. “Good.” After taking only a few steps, he noticed how flushed you had become. Even though he figured it was probably because he was holding your hand, he didn't let go. He did, however, stop walking. “Too much?”

Despite how red faced and generally embarrassed you were, for some reason, you found yourself shaking your head. “N-no, I guess this is fine.”

“I'm glad.” Squeezing your hand even tighter, he resumed walking. “Because I wasn't going to let go anyway.”