Who: Gabriel Erikkson, Ainsley Carrow & Koa Etana Ka'uhane What: Beach day! When: After the most recent full moon Where: The beach Rating: Low Warnings: n/a
The lure of the beach for Ainsley was something of a day changer. San Francisco had beaches, but not like Los Angeles, and Ainsley was going to get a nice little treat that many tourists wouldn’t really get; insider information.
Her wardrobe had been the first thing she’d sorted out in her apartment, dealing with all the things she needed to get unpacked, and since this was LA, she’d more than enough swimwear for her to have a selection to wear. Her beach bag was packed -chilled drinks, plenty of sunscreen, a portable charger for her phone, a book, which was mostly just in case Koa and Gabe got tired of her staring at them.
Sandals on, a long kaftan cover on over her stripy bikini top and bottoms, Ainsley pushed her shades on, shoved her headphones and phone into her bag and trotted down the stairs to wait by the sidewalk for Gabe.
Gabe had figured given that Ainsley was new to Los Angeles it would be good to pick her up and help find her way to the spot on the beach that he and Koa had carved out for themselves at a young age. It would have been sensible for him as a vampire to get himself a more sensible mode of transport but Gabe had always loved motorbikes before he’d been turned and he wasn’t going to change that now especially as he had the ability to walk in the sun given his charmed ring. Whilst he didn’t wear a helmet he did have one for Ainsley as she unlike him did not have the “gift” of immortality and safety first.
He was clad in a pair of ripped jeans, dark t-shirt, black and white converse with shades firmly in place. His beachwear was tucked away in the storage compartment of his bike and he’d change when he got there, seems it was impossible to fit board shorts on underneath jeans, go figure.
Gabe pulled up to the kerb and stretched his legs down to rest his feet on either side of the bike to hold it up as he waited for Ainsley, a smile catching his lips as he spotted her. “Looking good,” he assured her as his smile grew into a grin, hand holding out the helmet to her.
Dear God, Ainsley hadn’t thought it was possible for Koa’s best friend to be more attractive, and then he shows up on a motorbike and her hormones are livewired. “Hey Gabe,” she’d anticipated a car, honestly, probably a vintage thing, something cool and James Dean like. This? This was a little more bad boy than movie star.
She was very glad that she wasn’t wearing flipflops.
“That’s an interesting mode of transportation you have.” Not that she’d be turning down a ride, it was just that her brain was already firing in a million directions. “I really hope you’re prepared for how ungraceful I am.”
“Especially for a vampire, right?” He replied with a chuckle. His lips tugged into a small smile when she admitted she wasn’t the most graceful of creatures. “I won’t judge, promise.”
He kept the bike steady as Ainsley got onto the back behind him.
“Make sure you have a nice firm grip on me.”
Nice firm grip. Oh the things Ainsley could say.
She’d never ridden a motorbike before, it wasn’t a fear or anything of the same, just a lack of opportunity really. She made sure that her back was closed up and she had it properly fastened over her shoulder, sitting by her butt so she could perch close to Gabe on the back, fastening her helmet on when in position.
Her legs straddled the back of Gabe’s hips while she shimmied to wrap her arms around his waist, hoping that vampire awareness worked with her lack of balance. “I’ll try not squeeze the un-life out of you.”
“Appreciate that,” Gabe remarked as he glanced over at his shoulder at Ainsley, waiting until the helmet was in place before he sped away from the kerb. Thankfully Gabe had been riding bikes from the moment he’d been able to so it was clear Ainsley was in good hands. He handled the traffic and the roads with ease and the trip itself didn’t feel that long especially as Gabe knew all the shortcuts to take.
He pulled up to a stop in a small parking lot, killed the engine and knocked out the kickstand so that when Ainsley got off he’d be able to settle the bike down without fear of toppling it over.
As promised Koa was already there sunning himself like some sort of beach wolf with.. was that ice-cream? Gabe snorted and as he unpacked his bag from where he’d put it away he nodded in Koa’s direction.
“Looks like he’s right at home.”
Koa was absolutely right at home. Sprawled out on the sand, Koa was propped up by a mound of sand that he’d made and then laid a towel over, he was reclining like a king surveying his kingdom. His boardshorts were a dark blue and his hair was tied in a braid to keep it out of the way. He was also lazily licking at an ice-cream, swirling his tongue over the frozen treat and frowning at his hand as he realised that it had melted over his fingers.
He switched the hand holding the cone and moved to absently lick his fingers clean. Honestly, he hadn’t thought this through considering the full moon had literally just ended and his whole being was still hyped up, running on a much more primal sense. That is the only excuse he had for the way he reacted when he caught the mixed scent of GabeandAinsley on the air.
He sat up a little, turned his head and raised both hands, forgetting that he had an ice-cream in his hands. It fell, bounced off his chest leaving a white smear on his skin before dropping onto the sand. He pouted, deeply disappointed at the lack of ice-cream but the fact that his people had turned up was enough to lift his spirits.
He called out a greeting and then got to his feet, “One of you wanna help me clean this up?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he glanced down at the ice-cream smudge on his chest.
Between Gabe just existing and having spent the trip here wrapped around him, and Koa just being himself with fate dealing some serious cruel hands, Ainsley was sure that the temperature was only half responsible for the heat she was already feeling. She was kind of glad that her eyes were covered so that she could stare all she wanted.
Damn, why did she need to be friends with a pair of scorchingly hot men?
“How about you go help him clean up,” because seriously she needed to get some distance or she’d implode, “and I’ll find replacement ice creams? You want one?” It was partly letting Ainsley cool down, get her hormones under control, and allowing the boys to goof around if they wanted to.
Also, ice cream sounded wonderful.
Seriously? Gabe arched his eyebrow at Koa’s blatant shamelessness and he shot Ainsley a sympathetic look as due to enhanced senses he could hear the effect Koa was having on her. “Uh, yeah, I’ll take an ice cream.”
He slung his bag over his shoulder and leaned down to unlace his converse and also slip his socks off so when he ventured onto the beach there was no risk of a sand invasion. It did literally get everywhere after all.
Gabe reached out and swiped his thumb through the trace of ice cream before he promptly sucked it off the edge of it. “Don’t make me get you a bib,” he remarked teasingly with a grin.
“Can I get another one too?” Koa yelled after Ainsley, “I promise not to end up wearing it!”
He tipped his head, pushing past the bubbling territorial-ness that rippled over him as he caught Ainsley’s scent on Gabe. He knew it’d be the same when she came back with ice-cream and that it was wildly inappropriate to just rub himself all over them both until they were a mixture of all three of them which, in his mind, made it all much better. He wasn’t blind, he’d been able to smell the difference when they’d arrived and he knew it wasn’t him. Or, maybe, wasn’t just him. But he also knew well enough that it wasn’t the kind of thing you just said to those with enhanced senses because that was embarrassing. And Koa had a little more sense than that.
His eyebrow lifted. “Why’d I need one of those when it’s more fun for you to help me out?” He bit his lower lip, glancing down to watch the ice-cream almost completely disappear. “You missed a bit.”
Ainsley didn’t bother responding to Koa, thinking it better to leave him guessing about if she’d bring him something else to be messy with. But he did look good all messy, and she turned around to spot Gabe cleaning his finger of the mess that was on Koa’s chest.
“Damn it.” Well that was just going to be seared into her brain now.
Ordering the three ice cream cones, getting sauce and sprinkles on them, because why not? Ainsley tried to carefully make her way back to Gabe and Koa with their ice creams clutched in one hand and her own snug in the other hand.
“If you’re finished with the acts of public indecency?” Not that she was complaining in the least, she was just hoping that the sun would mask any blushing she was doing, completely forgetting about scents and heartbeats giving the game away.
Gabe would have replied to Koa’s comment but then Ainsley was back with ice cream and he turned to give her a smile. “Could be worse,” he muttered with a smirk as he took the cone from her. “We could be butt naked.” Wouldn’t be the first time after all.
He ducked his head and licked a steady line around the edge of the cone where ice cream met wafer.
Koa grinned a little wickedly, “If you think that’s indecent don’t let me tell you about the time we got kicked off the beach for- uh- what did that old lifeguard call it?” He wrinkled his nose, “Heavy petting?”
He leaned over and took his ice-cream from Ainsley, accompanying it with a playful nuzzle and kiss to her cheek before arching his eyebrow at Gabe for the literal indecence of how he was licking his ice-cream.
“Can’t take him anywhere,” he protested with a grin, feeling happier and more settled in his skin now that the two of them were there, with him. “So, did I miss anything last couple days while I’ve been… y’know, howling at the moon an’ all?”
Maybe coming to the beach wasn’t a good idea after all. Between talks of nakedness, eating ice cream like it was an adult movie and Koa putting images in Ainsley’s head she was going to be having a bit of an awkward time.
“Unless you were all fluffy, I wouldn’t call it heavy petting.” Although other names weren’t really stopping the images. Things like semi-nude frottage. Ainsley had to turn towards the water, busying herself with her own ice cream while she got herself past that particular thought.
“I got a job?” A summer job, something easy going, “It’s at this sports bar, just serving food and drink. Help to offset my money flow before college.” Because her dad was supportive, but still wanted her to be responsible and earn a wage.
"Mm, that was a long time ago," Gabe murmured with a fond chuckle though his attention did turn to Ainsley when she called out that she'd found a job. "Hey, that's great . Congratulations." Honestly Koa hadn't missed much in regards to Gabe as he was still just finding his feet and working out how to be a vampire in Los Angeles.
Slow and steady won the race, right?
He devoured what was left of his ice-cream and dug into his bag to rummage out his dark swim shorts as they had come to enjoy the beach after all.
Koa grinned widely, “That’s awesome, Ains. If anyone give you trouble though you just call us. Or my dad. He likes you a lot and he’s currently undefeated in his league at Tooth and Nail.”
He tipped his head, “Right here, man?” Because he knew what was going to happen next; Gabe was going to strip and Koa would explode. Repression was bad for a werewolf.
He slung his arm over Ainsley’s shoulders and tugged her in close, nudging her temple with his nose. “Someone,” he told her, “still hasn’t learned what modesty is.”
Ainsley was sure, should someone try something, she had a host of friends she could call on. Because it wasn’t like Koa wouldn’t rope someone into something. Although the mention of his dad was amusing because Ainsley was sure that half the state would shit themselves if faced with an angry Roman. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Apparently, neither Gabe or Koa were partial to modesty. There was little consideration for the fact that acres of skin were just about to be displayed in a public (ish) place while other people watched on. And Ainsley was really torn between watching or not watching.
And then there was Koa; sweet, kind, nice smelling Koa who had no understanding about personal space, something that Ainsley equally appreciated the shit out of, and hated sometimes. Because where his arm pressed across her shoulders, just a few places in the kaftan stopping their skin touching, she could feel little goosebumps coming up.
“That seems to be a common thing around here.” Because Koa was the picture of modesty? And Ainsley gave a look that showed she didn’t buy it.
Gabe flipped Koa the bird and just snorted. “You’re one to talk.” Still he didn’t let it dissuade him as he caught the edges of his t-shirt and pulled it upwards to sure enough expose a ton of skin along with rippling muscles. Honestly could have been something out of a Calvin Klein advert. The movement of course messed up his hair and Gabe did his best to put it back into order by sweeping his long fingers into the strands before he just tossed the t-shirt into his bag.
Idly he became aware of a racing heartbeat and the distinct scent that came with attraction and laser sharp blue eyes rested quite heavily on Ainsley because she could for all her pretence act like she wasn’t affected but the vampire in Gabe knew better. Koa wasn’t dumb either even if he liked to pretend like he was so he couldn’t have missed it.
Gabe undid his belt and shucked his jeans off a moment later until he was left clad in nothing more than a black pair of boxer briefs which just clung in all the right places. He could have gone swimming in there but nobody like walking around with wet underwear though he could if he wanted to go full commando. Still he had swimming shorts so he should probably wear those.
A brief display of modesty had Gabe turning his back to both Koa and Ainsley as he divested himself of his underwear to step into and tug on said shorts.
Koa didn’t look away immediately; he’d seen Gabe’s naked ass on more than one occasion though it had been a while. So after allowing himself a couple of lingering seconds to look, he averted his eyes, kissed Ainsley’s temple again and then tucked his chin atop her head, pretending he couldn’t hear the racing of her heartbeat, hardly helped by the sight of Gabe’s naked butt.
His fingers absently stretched out over her shoulder, brushing in idle circles as he waited for Gabe to be dressed. “You’re coming in the water with us, right, Ains? ‘Cause otherwise you’ll get carried in.”
He frowned, glanced at Gabe, “Hey, your daylight thing isn’t gonna come off, right? In the water by accident or anything?” He hadn’t thought about that until that moment and suddenly needed to just indulge in a little bit of casual worrying.
Ainlsey was mostly glad that they were outside, so at least there was other stuff going on that she could distract herself with a little bit; at least until Gabe naked, thankfully turned away, but naked. Her ice cream became exceptionally interesting in that moment, even with Koa so close, making her entirely aware of his heat just as much as the sun and God damn these men were going to ruin her.
“Um, sure, yeah,” maybe some cool salt water would help her a little, “I brought a towel and everything.” Although apparently people weren’t that fussed around here about modesty and things like that.
“Is this the first time at the beach since, y’know, you turned?” That wasn’t entirely surprising if it was the case, since it was probably a big deal to go back to doing all the things he’d done as a human, but as a vampire. Hopefully not bad things though.
The question about his ring was a good question and one Gabe didn’t actually have an answer for. “Uh, shouldn’t do? I mean, it’s pretty snug.” And it was, but then it was the ocean and the ocean was unforgiving.
“And yeah, first time since I was turned. I basically used to live here, worshipping the ocean and the sun, but where I was taken to deal with the whole being turned was as far removed from LA as you can imagine.”
It had felt like going into the dark ages truth be told.
Koa’s mouth went slack and he let go of Ainsley to walk over to Gabe, grabbing at his hand and gently tugging on the ring to see how easily it slipped off his finger. It didn’t move all that much, but Koa decided that he’d keep a close eye on it, and Gabe, because the last thing anyone needed was Gabe losing his ring and Koa upending the beach to grab things to get the sun off his best friend.
He squeezed Gabe’s fingers lightly because the question was probably a hard one; he was learning that a lot of the stuff that he used to do made Gabe pull that face and though he hadn’t pulled it this time, Koa had noticed it in his eyes.
“Well, Ains, get that ice-cream finished ‘cause we got some waves to hit!” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “You’ve not been on a beach until you’ve been on the beaches here in LA.”
It seemed like a serious moment, and Ainsley felt a little bad about bringing up what Gabe had done and what he couldn’t do anymore. But it seemed like Koa was just as uncertain about making sure that Gabe had a good time and wasn’t put at risk.
Which was the most important thing.
It would fall on Koa if something went wrong, since Ainsley wasn’t even capable of doing anything to help, but hopefully the ring that Koa was inspecting was sturdy enough on Gabe’s finger.
“Pushy, pushy.” Although she did have just a little bit left to eat, dusting her hands together to get the crumbs from the cone off her hands. She had to bend down to unstrap her shoes, letting Koa and Gabe deal with uncertainty or whatever while she got her stuff put together in a small pile before she pulled the kaftan over her head to fold it up beside her stuff, leaving her sunglasses on.
Making sure her bikini top and bottom were secure, a tiny bit self conscious and making sure everything was covered. “Okay, but I warn you, I will not be dunked or I will squirt water in your face.”
Gabe reached out and squeezed the side of Koa’s neck, thumb brushing over the wolf’s skin. “I’ll be alright.” Ring was pretty damn snug after all and he had a feeling that Koa would tear his way through anything and anyone to get Gabe back under shade should the worst come to pass.
He glanced over at Ainsley just as the kaftan came off and his eyebrows definitely lifted because damn. “No wonder she caught your attention,” he said quietly, so quietly, that only Koa would be able to hear him. “I think you’re gonna have to remind Koa of that when we’re in the water or you know let him find out for himself.”
Gabe flashed his teeth before he made sure all his belongings were secure and then made for the water.
Koa bared his teeth in a grin, first at the gentle agreement from Gabe that Ainsley was definitely as pretty as Koa thought she was (having tilted his head to watch her bend over and strip off and wow, with the two of them around him his brain was rapidly reverting to factory settings he hadn’t thought about this at all considering it was the day after the full moon) and then at the comment about not getting dunked.
“I’d never do that to you, Ains,” he teased with an overdramatically scandalised expression, watching Gabe disappear into the ocean and Ainsley secure her things before he was catching her around the waist and lifting her up, running towards the water to do just that.
Today was going to be the best day. He could just feel it.