@more-than-a-princess || Thread Continuation || Taken from here 🦋
"Thank you, Minato-Kun," She told him warmly, "I'm sure I'll have no trouble with the sun this way! But you are right, I imagine it must be troublesome to reach the entirety of your back, especially when you are quite tall. Please, go ahead and lay down now and I shall see to your back."
After all, Minato Arisato had given her zero inclination that, beneath the slim fitting of his clothes, he possessed shoulders that had seen their fair share of manual labor, and triceps that, as he laid down, Sonia could tell followed suit. He wasn't the type to spend hours in a gym, so she supposed that it must have come from his work and the loads of heavy equipment he and his co-worker schlepped from place to place, in pursuit of ghosts and other paranormal happenings.
Swallowing her anxiety and, hopefully, the last of those thoughts, she had to thank the supernatural world for giving Minato a reason to haul such heavy equipment to do his job effectively. The thought made her chuckle softly as she exhaled, humbled by her own nerves, and began to rub the sunscreen into his back. She needed to talk to him, to carry on some conversation so her mind wouldn't wander the way it had when she'd been on the receiving end.
"It's so lively here, much more than the beaches in Europe," She finally spoke. It wasn't exactly the pinnacle of intellectual conversation, but it was what Sonia could manage right then, as her hands skimmed over his shoulder blades before moving further south. "There, there's often a noise ordinance and far more sunbathing instead of sports. Those are usually assigned to separate beaches, so they don't disrupt the sunbathers. Or the yachts, I assume: an Earl from my country had a rather infamous public tantrum when a fellow tourist on holiday in Cannes rode a jet ski right into the side of his boat last year. And seemed to retell the story over and over, all the way until the New Year's Eve party at Novoselic Castle. But here in America...everyone just enjoys the weather and the sea together. I find that nice. And terribly enticing to run into the waves as soon as we're finished!" If not a cold drink, then dunking herself right into the ocean should be enough to cool her off. At least, that was her logic.
When it came to beaches, Minato did enjoy them, there had been several countries with beaches he'd traveled to for work, but because of his schedule and all he had to do upon arriving, he never had the time to check out any famous beaches, even on days off where there was no work because when there was no work to do, there were other things to do, usually, things involving fan-fair: interviews, guest appearances on some form of media, online, on television as well as the radio. Other things too, like public signings, Q&A's, and meet and greets, there was never a dull moment for Minato Arisato whenever he was on the road for a work-related trip, almost every day would find something for Minato to do, preventing him from being able to enjoy any free time that might come his way whenever he was in another country for his work.
To be able to actually enjoy a beach for once, felt nice, Sonia's company, was the icing on the cake that made this trip stand out compared to the others. The Paranormal Investigator had seen several parts of the world and visited many different countries and while eighty percent of these trips were work-related, each trip had its own memories that made it unique and special. The current trip would never be able to top the others and easily took his place on the best trip this year.
Minato's career, despite it being a profession that rarely saw this amount of success for most, was still very busy and was not by any means perfect, as it did come with its own share of ups and downs -- pros and cons like everything else, and it wasn't always involving things with the investigation either.
Not catching any evidence during an investigation was one thing, but that was just one of many things that played a factor in it, there had been other occasions of video editing mistakes or equipment malfunctioning, and there had been a few cases of those this year which was nothing but a bundle of stress for the trio at PQ, so a little vacation like this, was much needed, not just for Minato, but he was sure his other two investigators could also appreciate the little break from the laptop and computer screens that the three would stare at for hours in end.
[{ 🦋 }] - "Happy to help Sonia-Chan. Yeah, you got that right. Believe it or not, I used to be a bit shorter in high school. It took some time adjusting to my increase in height after I got to college, and reaching my back, is still a bit of an issue." A soft chuckle after his modesty.
He never thought he'd get this much of an increase in height, though he assumed that had something to do with his late father since he had been pretty tall, though it wasn't too surprising since his dad was a foreigner who moved to Japan after meeting his mother.
Already on his knees, Minato gave a nod before leaning forward, lowering himself to lay his stomach down on the towel as he prepared to brace himself for Sonia's touch, now it was his turn to try and keep his thoughts in the realm of decency, and try he would -- though this feat would prove a bit difficult, just how long had it been since he had someone -- let alone a lover, touch him like this as he felt Sonia's soft gentle hands begin to slather parts of his back in sunscreen.
Sure, it was the simple act of applying sunblock which was something completely normal at a beach, but even that could become a lot more tedious when you factor in several years of not being in a relationship - such was the case for Minato. Needless to say, this would probably be the most difficult seven to twelve minutes of Minato's life in recent years.
As he began to fight the urge to react vocally to the movements of Sonia's hands as he felt her gradually shift her touch from his upper and lower back and eventually to his sides, Minato's thoughts began to race a mile a minute as she continued to apply the sunblock, despite his initial struggle of keeping his mind out of the gutter, Minato could appreciate her willingness to make sure didn't miss a single part of exposed skin on his back and the surrounding region.
The bluenette was just about to start a conversation in an attempt to better assist himself in keeping his head in the right place, as he could easily let it wander onto more suggestive thoughts. It seemed Sonia was thinking the same thing as she chimed in before he could speak, a gesture that he was completely fine with considering that any sort of conversation would help keep him focused on her, and away from the more risque subject matter that threatened to distract his thoughts.
[{ 🦋 }] - "I know right? It's pretty crazy how much different some beaches in Europe are compared to here in America. You'd think all beaches would be at least a little similar, but when you look at American beaches compared to beaches in Europe, it's like they are polar opposites in terms of public rules. Kind of reminds me of something I heard online last week. In recent news, I heard that the island of Lipari in the Aeolian archipelago off the coast of Sicily, and Tropea in Calabria, announced that they would be enforcing fines for people who wear swimsuits when not on the beach, among a host of other new rules. Supposedly, they say it's to try and curb loutish behavior from tourists, which I can understand to a point. Not all tourists are the most respectful and courteous."
It was fascinating how different some beach locations in Europe were when it came to rules and guidelines, while some were very adamant about enforcing them, some were a little bit lighter with things and more strict on other things, so it all probably depended on the type of people as some tourists weren't exactly the nicest of people.
Minato nodded in agreement, while he could understand the reasoning behind some extremely strict rules, at least America was a bit more easy-going in terms of spending time on the beach, there was just something so great about American beaches that let you enjoy the beach as freely as one wanted, it made sense coming from a country that claimed to be a free country.
[{ 🦋 }] - "I agree. The beaches in America are welcome to anyone, there are no major rules or regulations, nothing but open fun on a public beach. My dad was a westerner, he was born in America, he would always tell me stories about his home country, and how he wanted to take me there someday. So, I guess he's one of the reasons why I like America so much." He says, his tone slightly somber as he took a moment to reflect back to his late father and all his stories about the west.
[{ 🦋 }] - "I know what you mean. In that case, once we're done here, let's not waste any time getting into the water." The conversation seemed to have worked, the couple had managed to keep certain thoughts at bay long enough for her to finish, and the moment he feels her stop, Minato puts his palms on the towel and pushed himself back up to his feet. As Sonia put away the sunscreen tube, Minato offered up his hand to help her to her feet, keeping hold of her hand after pulling her up, he kicked their beach ball a bit forward so it lands just on the shore before the body of water.
[{ 🦋 }] - "Thank you. Now that we're all blocked up, I can hear the ocean calling us, so how about we jump right in Sonia-Chan?"
Not waiting long enough to get her full answer, he leads their way into the water but doesn't go too fast so Sonia could keep up with his pace as the couple could feel their feet touch the water before eventually becoming submerged at their ankles and further up as they fully transitioned into the water with a light splash of gentle waves caused from their lower halves as they hit the water, the cool temperature of the water immediately putting them at ease from the heatwave.
