Mondo arrives at the beach and as usual blows inside the shell that Taka gave him while waiting for his arrival. Some minutes have passed but the triton still doesn't show up

Mondo: "He must have been here by now, why hasn't he arrived yet?"  he looks at the shell in his hand "maybe he didn't hear the sound?" he asks himself thoughtfully but also a little worried

He was about to play the shell a second time but finally he sees Taka's head pop out of the water

Taka: "I'm sorry for making you wait Mondo, but I was doing something important and I couldn't leave" he says swimming towards him

Mondo: "It's okay Taka don't worry, I thought you had changed your mind about our trip"

Taka: "And why should I? I can't wait to spend time with you" he says smiling

After Taka has transformed into a human, the two take each other by the hand and go to Mondo's bike that was parked a little further on.

Taka: "what is that?" He asks looking curiously at the bike

Mondo: "this is my bike we will use it to go to our meeting place as it is quite far from here"

Taka: "I see, it's very cool" he says looking at the bike more closely

Mondo: "it sure is!" he says with a chuckle "o right, you'll need this" he takes a helmet and puts it on Taka's head

Taka: "what is it?"

Mondo: "it's called a helmet, and you wear it when you ride a motorcycle to avoid getting hurt"

Taka: "oh, interesting" he says as he punches the helmet a little

Mondo: he too puts on his helmet "now get on the bike and hold on to me" he says as he gets on the bike

Taka: "uhm.. o-ok"

Taka gets on the bike and put his arms around Mondo's waist, he turns on the bike and they leave for the streets, but the sudden speed scares Taka a little bit and he tightening Mondo's waist closing his eyes

Mondo: "are you okay back there?"

Taka: "y-yes, sorry but the speed and the noise caught me off guard"

Mondo: "it's okay, I guess you're not used to such a thing"

After a while Taka relaxes a little and starts to like the breeze that comes on his face

Taka: 'it's quite nice' he thinks smiling, resting his head on Mondo's back

Mondo: blush a little at his gesture but smiles 'he seems to like it' he thinks happily

After a few more minutes they arrived at their destination, they found themselves at the entrance to a clearing full of flowers of all kinds and colors

Taka: "wow, this is beautiful!"

Mondo: "right?" He takes off his helmet and helps Taka take off his "since you showed me your favorite place I thought I'd do the same"

Taka: "this is a good idea, Mondo" he smiles, then notices Mondo's hair "uhm... your hair is a little messy"

Mondo: "hm?" he notices that his pompadour had fallen apart a bit "that's why I hate wearing a helmet, watever"

Mondo melts his hair by letting it fall on his shoulders

Mondo: "I guess I'll have to stay like this then"

Taka stands silent looking at him with small shades of pink on his cheeks

Mondo: "are you okay Taka?"

Taka: "y-yes I'm fine, it's just that I've never seen you with your hair down"

Mondo: "yeah, usually I never go around like that, but since now it's just the two of us I think I can do it"

Taka: "Well I think you should do it more often, you are very handsome like this"

Mondo: blushes a little "t-thank you"

Taka: giggles a little

The two walk around the clearing holding hands while Taka looks around

Taka: "this place is beautiful Mondo, now I understand why you like to come here"

Mondo: "right? But you should see it during the night, it becomes even more beautiful"

The two arrive in the middle of the clearing where there is a picnic tablecloth with a basket

Mondo: "I thought I'd have a picnic here, since it's our first official date, what do you think?"

Taka: "sounds like a good idea!"

The two sit on the tablecloth when they notice the basket moving slightly

Mondo: "what the-?" He opens the basket and Akemi comes out of there and jumps into Taka's arms

Taka: "hey Akemi" he laughs as the puppy licks his face

Mondo: "he must have slipped into the basket when I wasn't looking" he laughs too

After helping Taka get Akemi off his face, the two play with the puppy for a while

Mondo: "I'm starting to get a little hungry, hey Taka, do you want a snack too?"

Taka: he nods "what did you bring?" He asks curious looking at the basket

Mondo: "it's not much, but I tried to prepare a couple of Sandwiches" he says pulling out a container that is happy with Sandwiches "I'm not very good in the kitchen so my brother taught me to prepare small things so that I don't set fire to the kitchen" he chuckles a bit

Akemi sniffs the container interested in what's inside

Mondo: "Are you hungry too? Wait a minute" he takes a Sandwich, tears off a piece and gives it to the little puppy who eats it happily licking Mondo's hand a little "hey, it tickles me" he chuckles

Taka: he chuckles too then he takes a Sandwich and looks at it "so you humans eat similar things"

Mondo: "sometimes yes, but there are a variety of foods we eat not only these" he says while eating his Sandwich "come on try it"

Taka: "ok" he tastes the Sandwich "wow, this it's yummy!" He says as he continues to eat it

Mondo: "hey slow down there I'm glad you like it, but you don't need to eat it so fast" he says with a chuckle

After eating their snacks they sit there looking at the view while Akemi continues to hop around

Taka: he sighs "I like this place, it's very nice"

Mondo: "yeah, as I told you sometimes I come here alone because of the nice atmosphere, but I guess it's even more beautiful if you come in company" he says smiling at Taka

Taka: "I guess so" he smiles too, then a ladybug lands on his nose "huh?"

Mondo: "hey that's a ladybug"

Taka: "a ladybug?" He asks as he sees the insect fly away

Mondo: "yep, it's said that ladybugs bring good luck, especially to young couples, personally I don't really believe in this thing, but who knows maybe in the future we'll have some luck" he smiles

Taka: "it would be nice" he smiles too, but then his gaze affects a little

Mondo: "what's wrong?"

Taka: "i-it's nothing, I'm fine"

Mondo: "it doesn't seem to me"

Taka: "......."

Mondo: approaches him "you know you can talk to me, so please tell me what's wrong"

for a moment Taka remains silent, he doesn't know if he wants to talk about it now or not, but in the end he decides to talk

Taka: "Mondo, you.... you just pretending that you care about me?"

Mondo: "Of course not, why should I do that?"

Taka: "because someone told me that humans are just manipulative liars and that they exploit people only for their egosism, so I was wondering if.... you were doing the same to me too....."

Mondo: "......"

Taka: "that in reality you are just pretending to care about me and...." some tears are starting to fall from his eyes "....and that in reality you don't really love me...."

Mondo with one hand raises Taka's face so that he looked him in the eye

Mondo: "Taka listen to me, some are like you said this is true, but not me, I could never do such a thing to hurt you"

Taka: "......."

Mondo: "and for sure what I feel for you is not a lie, I really care about you"

Taka: "...... do you really mean it?"

Monfo: "Of course I mean it, do you want proof?"

Taka: "........" he nods

Mondo takes Taka's cheek and kisses him on the lips and he kisses him back.
After a while they pull away and Mondo cleans up Taka's tears

Mondo: "Is this proof enough for you?"  He asks smiling

Taka looks at him for a moment, Mondo's eyes are sincere and he understands that he is telling the truth

Taka: he smiles and nods "thank you Mondo"

Mondo: "anytime, and remember this, I don't care if you are a human a triton or whatever, I love you Taka and nothing will change that fact"

Taka: put his hand on Mondo's "I love you too"

Mondo smiles and rests his forehead on Taka's, who smiles in turn, maybe the two will be different but there is one thing that unites them and it's the love they feel for each other.
Akemi approaches them noticing that Taka was a little sad

Taka: "it's ok Akemi I'm fine now" he says stroking his head

Mondo smiles seeing that he is not the only one he cares about Taka, then he feels something fall on his head and notices that it has started to rain

Mondo: "oh come on, are you serious!?" He says a little angry "sigh, come on let's go and find shelter from the rain"

After taking the basket and the tablecloth, the two go to a gazebo not far from them to shelter from the rain

Mondo: "I should have looked at the weather forecast before organizing this" he says sitting on a bench with Akemi curled up on his lap

He sighs a little in frustration, but then notices that Taka was watching the rain with a fascinated expression on his face

Mondo: "I guess you've never seen rain, didn't ya?"

Taka: "yeah, it's strange that water falls from the sky, but it's also nice"

Mondo chuckles at Taka's naive, but it's a side of him that they really like.
After a while there is a thunder that frightens the puppy hiding inside Mondo's jacket

Mondo: "hey it's okay Akemi, he was just a thunder" he says stroking the puppy in an attempt to calm him, then notices Taka shaking slightly "are you okay Taka?"

Taka: "y-yes I'm fine" he hear another thunder that makes him jump a little

Mondo: "Are you afraid of thunder?"

Taka: "Is this the name of these barrels?"

Mondo doesen't understand at first what he means but then realizes that he must have heard the thunder from under the sea and since he did not know what it was he was scared.

Mondo: "yes, thunder usually comes when it starts to rain"

Taka: "I see" he jumps again when he hears another thunder

Mondo: "come here" he wraps him in a hug while Taka hugs him in turn "try not to think about it ok? Try to concentrate on something else"

Taka: "o-okay, I'll try"

The two remain in that position while the rain continues to fall and little by little Taka relaxes, the comfort he from Mondk is very nice and shortly after he falls asleep in Mondo's arm, who noticing him was asleep he kisses him on the head and he runs his fingers through Taka's hair trying to not wake him up

Mondo: "You don't have to worry about anything, because I will do everything to protect you Taka, and this is a promise"

To be continued......