down on the sand.

Micah was seated in the sand, ground clumped and still damp from the early morning high tide, watching the clouds off over the ocean slowly grow at a steady pace. He sat there for a few minutes more, the sun slowly rising into the clouded sky before he looked away from it, grabbing his coffee cup from the sand and taking a slow drink of the hot, bitter liquid. He couldn't hold back his snort, watching as the girls positioned themselves into a complicated yoga pose and Trevor, who he believed hadn't been to sleep in over twenty-four hours, attempted to do the same. His face reddened as he tried to hold the position, the short pants of breath he was letting out could be heard from where Micah was seated, and he was about to comment when Mia shot off, her bark piercing the air and disturbing the peace that had settled over the beach. He called after her even though he knew it was useless, and quickly set his coffee back in the sand before standing and running after her. He watched as she finally reached her target, circling the small group of people and he sped up, not knowing how any of them would react to the rather large dog who was attempting to scare them witless. "Sorry, sorry, she's gotta mean bark, I know, but she's harmless," he said, finally reaching the group, not really glancing at them before positioning himself in Mia's line of sight. "Hey, there's no need for that," he told her softly, signing out what he'd believed was a stop before crouching down and pulling her eyes to him. "You're being a nuisance," he continued, letting out a chuckle as she barked once more, her eyes darting from his to look over behind him. He attempted to sign stop once more, his sluggish and slightly sleep-addled mind not seeming to grasp that thought completely, though it had the intended effect. "Sorry about this, she's doesn't know how to properly react to new people," he said, glancing over his should himself, flashing the group of people a sheepish grin before turning back to her, giving her the sign to go home, though she simply laid down with her head on her paws. He shook his head, a fond grin pulling his lips up and he skritched her between the ears before he stood up and turning back to the other's, his tongue tying as his eyes landed on by far the most attractive man he'd ever seen. Micah's hand reached up, his fingers easily finding the leather cord around his neck and he tugged at the charm attached to it as he tried to collect his thoughts. He gave them all a cursory glance, and simply by the shoes alone he knew they had to be well off, some rich kids from Los Angeles having stumbled upon their northern California beach. He felt rather silly standing there in his sweater with the ripped neck and patched places where he had inexpertly attempted to sow it back together, the paisley joggers a bright contrast to the rest of the beach inhabitants calm toned clothing choices. "Er, yeah, sorry about that, her, uh, people skills are severely lacking."

Zayn had found it hard to keep himself busy just by staying in his condo in Los Angeles; which he mostly blamed on the fact that there was more paparazzi outside his home than ever before since he had finally decided to leave the band. It wasn't all bad after about two days of not communicating with any of the four other lads, since that was how long it took before they all eventually decided that it was pointless to just not talk to each other after five years. That didn't stop the newspapers and online blogs from assuming that since they weren't up each other's asses on social media, they were obviously still disputing over him leaving the band. It was ridiculous, but that didn't stop Zayn from packing himself up and moving from England to Los Angeles to actually attempt a life of semi-normalcy. He ended up deciding that morning that he would get Danny, Ant and whoever else they knew that were willing to join to come and find a beach that was secluded away from the rest of the world. With a quick tweet to the world about him wanting to find the ocean, which he honestly didn't mean for it to sound so moody and metaphorical, but still smiled when he saw Louis like it while he was on his way to find this mostly abandoned beach. One of the girls, Tyler, had said that they knew the best beach in northern California, which Danny had decided had to be true and started making his way there. The drive was simple, his friends and him making mindless conversation and discussing how they have been while they all were away from each other. Zayn decided that there was nothing better, that being a normal twenty two year old was finally something tangible to him. Once they arrived to the beach, he quickly decided that his tank top was pointless to have on, leaving it in the car as he helped carry some of the towels and a few beach chairs. He was surprised to see people already there, frowning at the idea that maybe they would let it be known exactly who made their way onto this specific beach. Instead, he was met with a dog barking loudly and approaching them. Zayn would have been moderately frightened if it wasn't for the fact that the dog looked to be in her older years, bringing a soft smile to his face as he allowed her to continue her bark at them from the few feet of distance that she left between them. He set down the chairs, the towels going on top of them, before he saw a man attempting to get the dog's attention. He let out a grin as he saw the man continue to try to get the dog to settle down, which she finally did. "No problem, mate, we were just out here since it seems mostly desolate," he said, looking behind him to the group of his friends who all seemed to already be talking amongst themselves. He heard something about playing with the volleyball they brought, but decided to not barge into the conversation just yet. "You are alright with us being here, right? This isn't your beach?" He asked, still smiling hopefully.

Micah stared at the man's mouth for probably longer than polite before he looked around himself, eyes landing on the expanse of beach that stretched between two rock outcrops and he shrugged, focusing back at the lone man still talking to him. "State of California owns it. Can't really claim any rights to it," he said, hoping his normal reticence to speak to strangers wasn't making an appearance, though he feared it was. He was turning to walk away ‒ the reality of talking to a stranger finally being realised, and he couldn't look at Mia to make the process easier ‒ when Harvey ran up to his side. Her small hand easily slid to the small of his back, and she gathered close to his side as a particularly brisk gust blew off the water. "Hey, sorry about this one, he's about as good with strangers as our Mia, here," she said, pointing down to the dog who had just relocated herself to the side of Micah, slightly behind him as though she wanted to make sure there was things separating her from the strangers. "Personally, I think he's rubbing off on her, they both seem to have the amazing talent of driving away new people. But, enough about Mr. I'll Get Tongue-Tied and Then Clam Up here ‒ and my word, isn't he just doing a fabulous job of it right now? ‒ I'm Harvey," she continued, and Micah looked down to focus on her, deciding that was a better option than looking at the other man, who caused his brain to misfire with a simple smile. Harvey gave off a small wave, her face friendly and smiling, and he couldn't help being slightly peeved with himself that he couldn't keep a simple conversation going with the man. He was just beginning to work up the nerve to say something, to contradict her statement when he heard the loud laughter and sand being kicked up as people approached from behind. He vaguely heard someone stage-whisper, oh, that man is all sorts of fine, my word, and he couldn't help grinning over his shoulder at Janae, his own thoughts said aloud. He felt a slap to his back, one that was a bit stronger than was probably intended before three people passed him by to stand close to the strange, each of them giving their own greeting as well. He felt an arm sling around his shoulders, and he could immediately tell is was Trevor, who conformed to his side as well. "See you two were getting a little cozy here, felt a little left out. I thought I was the only one," Trevor said, his eyebrows wagging and a smirk pulled at his lips. "No, dude, you fucking reek," Harvey said from Micah's other side, and he couldn't help his laugh as they began playfully bickering back and forth. He pulled himself from the group, signing to Mia to go home once more, glad that he seemed to have gotten it correct as she turned and limped her way in the direction of their house. He shook his head as he walked off after her, calling over his shoulder, "kitchen duty this morning, wouldn't want hold up production," to Harvey's question of where he was going. He heard Harvey make an agreement sound. He could just make out her posing a question to the newcomer, what Micah believed was an invitation to join them for brunch, and he wasn't all that sure on how he felt about the possibility of them accepting.

Zayn felt slightly awkward when the man started to back away from him, feeling as if he was bothering the other. "Yeah, suppose you are right," he said, disappointed that he was already being shut down from talking to the other. He was just about to go back to Danny and Emma since they were in a discussion he would rather be apart of, until he saw a girl running by the man. He laughed as she spoke, nodding his head. "It's no problem, I just thought that this was your guy's beach more so. I would hate to overstep any kind of boundaries, maybe your some surfer gang, you know?" He asked with an amused look on his face. "'M Zayn," he introduced. His eyes flickered between the two that were there, almost wondering if they were together somehow. It seemed like the man seemed interested in talking to him, while at the same time refusing to talk to him. Zayn settled it on the man being shy, knowing that it was how he was until recently. He just didn't care anymore about being reserved or private ever since he left his management. Seeing the group of people approaching just made him grin wider, feeling a sense of acceptance between them from their welcoming faces. When he heard someone stage whisper, he looked over to the general direction and gave a small wink at the girl it seemed to have come from. When he saw the large man, he decided that potentially this was the best group he could have stumbled on. At Harvey's question about going to brunch, he nodded enthusiastically. "I don't think any of us have eaten yet, I don't know if you mind serving seven more people, though," looking at the group. He saw slightly disappointed when the man - which he felt slightly like admitting was very gorgeous - had gone with the excuse of kitchen duty. "I hope we won't be intruding?" He said, stating it more like a question as he didn't know if everyone would be okay with him accepting.

Micah went to grab his coffee mug before he made his way along the sandy trail leading from the beach to their house – though house might be a stretch as the building was little more than a sectioned off shack – and arrived in short order, letting Mia into the house ahead of him. He greeted the other dogs that lived with them, smiling softly and scratching each in their favourite spot before heading towards the kitchen, pulling his hair up and twisting it into a quick bun to keep it from his face. "Mia's limping something fierce. New people?" If he hadn't of had years of practice with his random appearances, Micah would have jumped out of his skin when the soft voice came from directly behind him. Once he was announced, you couldn't help but notice Darrell, the big man seeming to fill the room with his soft smiles and calming personality, though he had a penchant for sneaking up to people without anyone realising. Micah just continued on with washing his hands, making sure he removed the sand from under his finger nails so he wouldn't get yelled at this time. He withheld from answering, instead walking over to the cutting board to begin slicing the various things laid out for him, one of the few things he could do in the kitchen without completely screwing it up. "Yeah, whole group of people, five or six, maybe more. Seemed to think they'd be welcoming of a dog who insisted on barking at them. She's a menace," he said, his tongue poking out from between his lips as he attempted to make each hunk uniform with the other. "Believe Harvey might of invited them to eat with us. Good thing we always make twice as much of what we'd really need, huh?" He asked, looking over at Darrell as he passed him a bowl of chopped vegetables. He turned back to his work station once more, working once more as he carefully cut up the rest of his things before moving on to start shredding cheese. "You know we always welcome anyone who wants to join us. It's no hardship to make more food, and meeting new people and actually holding a conversation with them isn't going to harm you, Micah," Darrell replied, his focus intent on the bowl he was mixing things up in. "Trying. It's hard though," he said, giving another careless shrug as he moved the shredder towards the sink. "Mhm, well, you get everything ready to take down to the beach and get the containers prepared. Hope our guests won't be too put out with a little sand in their food. It's never hurt us," Darrell said with a soft chuckle before moving over to the stove. "They just might be," Micah replied to the rhetorical statement as he walked out of the kitchen.

Zayn ended up finding himself walking down the sandy trail himself an hour later. His friends had decided that it could be fun to join the people who were first on the beach. He mostly stuck to them, smiling but at the same time okay with just observing as they played with the beach volleyball. It was a bit comical to watch everyone play without a net, especially Trevor who seemed to be a wheezing mess by the end of just the first game. He had decided to retreat back to sitting next to Zayn, them making their own commentary to the game. This was comfortable and easy, enjoying the sun that was now raising higher and higher in the air. Harvey was the one who decided that it was food time, which made Trevor get up faster than Zayn had ever saw him get up before in the few hours they had met. He easily found a place in the other group, talking to Janae and Harvey along with Danny as they came up to the house. He felt slightly like he was intruding, but he doubted it mattered now since Ant and Tyler seemed like they were already making themselves at home at the place, kicking their sandals off and following the rest of the people deeper into the house. "You sure we aren't intruding?" He asked, looking over at Harvey who simply laughed before shaking her head. "Of course you aren't, we love having new people around. We make plenty of food around for a small army," she said, wrapping an arm around his neck as if to make it a point that he was already accepted. Everyone was seated everywhere, some on the couch, some on the floor and others at the dinning table as they waited for the food to be brought out and ready to be eaten. When he saw the man from before, who seemed more eager to get away from him than he was willing to admit, he gave him a small smile as if to ask if it was okay to even be here. Everything about this house was homey and easy, the chaos slightly controlled as everyone seemed to rush into the kitchen as if to be first to grab some of the food to eat. Zayn stayed back, happy with just getting whatever was left over after everyone else was done with their own feasts. He wasn't all that surprised as Trevor came out of the kitchen with double the normal serving that the food should have been.