A shirtless Daniel in the sea, though. That was also pretty great.
Once they were in waist-deep water, Micah explained the rest. “Basically, you do the same as body surfing but then, when you catch the curve of the wave, you paddle real hard and stand up.”
“Micah,” Daniel said, pushing his water-soaked curls off his face. “Those are the worst instructions ever. How do you stand up?”
Micah moved easily with the water and tried to figure out how to explain it. “You put your hands under your shoulders like this, and then sort of spring up off your toes. You want to stay in a crouch until you know your feet are in the right position, which is one in front of the other, sort of perpendicular to the board. Got it?”
“I know what all those words mean,” Daniel said, and despite his suspicion he looked as at home in the water as he always had. “Not sure I can do all that without bonking my head, but I get the idea.”
“Well, just watch me first,” Micah said, and then blew him a kiss. “Kiss my waves, Bellamy! Your Stanley Cup won’t save you now!”
Daniel’s laughter followed him as he swam out with a wave, hoping that he didn’t bite it and swallow seawater. Micah wasn’t a showoff, but hey, he had his pride, here. Luckily, November was prime season in Miami for surfing and he felt himself propelled forward enough to start paddling. A few seconds later, he did his pop-up, and settled on the board as he rode the wave into the shore. Luck was on his side, it would seem.
He gathered his board, swept a bow when he saw Daniel out in the surf and clapping, and dove back into the water to rejoin him.
“That was cool, dude!” Daniel said, sounding for a moment like maybe he did in a hockey locker room. It was charming, and the appreciative smile went right to Micah’s head...and other places that made him glad he was holding a surfboard. Honestly, Daniel Bellamy was way too hot for words.
“Your turn,” Micah said, but Daniel asked him to show him the pop-up again and watched with all the intensity of—well, of a pro athlete.
Micah cheered him on as Daniel started swimming. Like most new surfers who knew how to body surf or use a boogie board, he was great at the first part—catching the wave—and wiped out the first few times when he went to do the pop-up and get on the board. But he was indomitable, and Micah watched fondly as he tried over and over, cheering encouragement and offering tips as he saw where maybe Daniel was faltering.
It reminded him of how Daniel used to shoot rubber balls at a net in his driveway, over and over again, on a pair of sleek rollerblades. Micah would usually be reading a book, at least until it would get dark. Sometimes Daniel would be out shooting those rubber street-hockey balls at the net until ten, in the summer. Not even ice cream would get him to come inside.
Daniel was still as stubborn as ever. He made Micah demonstrate popping up a few more times and swam along beside him to see.
“Lilo & Stitch made this look a lot easier,” Daniel groused, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “This is gonna be the time I get it, Micah.”
Just six more and then we can have ice cream, Micah, promise.
“I believe in you,” Micah said, bobbing along with the waves. “Show that wave who’s the boss, Danny!”
He knew Daniel had it that time, somehow; his body moved as one on the board, comfortable and easy, and then he pushed up into a crouch...and into a full stand on the board. He wobbled and fell over almost immediately, but the grin on his face as he turned back toward Micah was as bright as a lighthouse.
I might be in trouble, here, Micah thought, giving appropriate props. It’s not just that he’s hot, it’s that he’s Daniel.
By the time they called it quits for the day, Daniel had ridden a handful of waves into the shore. The beach was becoming a bit more crowded, though, so they called it a day and dragged their boards up the sand to fall, exhausted, on their towels. He gave Daniel one of the large beach towels he’d bought, because that Colossus one was definitely too small, and they sat and let the warm air dry them off.
Micah had a better cooler than he did as a kid, and it kept a couple of sports drinks nice and cold. “You sweat more doing that than you think,” he said, passing one over to Daniel. “I have some granola bars in here, too.”
“What, no Cheez-Its or Capri Suns?” Daniel took one of the granola bars. “I’m starving. I forget what a workout that is.” He snapped a few pictures on his phone, slipping his sunglasses down as he typed. “I’m going to be that guy that sends pictures of how he’s at the beach to his teammates who are in Minnesota right now at a road game.”
Micah studied him. “Uh, Daniel? If your team is in Minnesota...”
Daniel glanced up, and for the first time all day Micah saw some tension in his expression. “Former teammates.”
“Because for a second I thought maybe you were so excited to go to the beach with me, you forgot about hockey,” Micah said, trying to lighten the mood back up.
“Believe me, surfing with you is awesome and way more fun than hanging out with my teammates.” Daniel sighed. “I love being home, and hanging out with you is, like I said, awesome. But my teammates...that’s not quite so great. And I keep thinking maybe...well, it doesn’t matter, I have a job to do, right? And that’s play hockey. But man, Micah, taking today to surf was...”
“Awesome?” Micah said, smiling a little.
“Yeah.” Daniel’s smile returned, maybe a few megawatts short of the one he’d given after surfing his first wave. “Can we do this again?”
“Of course.” The idea that Daniel might have said I keep thinking maybe I made a mistake coming here was a rough one, but the truth was, Daniel was here now and—
And what? his brain said. He’s hot and you’ve got all these great memories, but you’re not kids anymore. Having a crush is fine, but you better figure out real fast if you think there’s a chance for more and if you want to take it. As much as he could tell himself to chill out, Micah knew himself. These feelings weren’t going away.
Just because Daniel wasn’t straight didn’t mean Daniel was into him. “You know, when you first moved away... I kinda thought it was because we kissed.”
Daniel blinked, and then leaned back on his palms while the sea breeze ruffled his curls. “What? Of course not. It was a great first kiss. I wondered if you were gonna mention that.”
“I wondered if you were,” Micah said, the adult equivalent of I know you are, but what am I? “You play professional sports, and I’m not sure how friendly it is to queer people.”
“It’s getting...better,” Daniel said. “I—there are a few players who’ve come out to teams, that I can tell you. I’ve felt comfortable enough to tell various teammates over the years that I’m bi, and it’s never really been an issue. But it’s... I can’t lie and say it’s not a thing, though, honestly? It was worse in juniors, and from what I’ve heard from other queer players, that was the same for them. If we want this toxic bullshit to change, that’s where it’s gotta start.”