12.08.98
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"Hey, Bee, is that one of your horses?" James' voice was oh-so-innocently concerned, the boy pointing off over his friend's shoulder.

Blackwater looked, because they'd been having problems with escaping equines. "Where- He-" His query was cut off as he felts two warm hands pressed against his shoulder and hip, then gave him a shove.

The younger boy watches gleefully as his friend toppled into the pool.

Bobbing back to the surface, Beej wiped water from his eyes and pushed his hair back. "Hey! What'd you do that for?" He splashed his way closer, feigning a scowl as he leaned against the side of the pool.

"Because you looked hot... And you were being awfully serious."

"I looked hot." The statement was wry, but the damp young man was beginning to blush. Beej crossed his arms on the concrete lip, resting his chin on them. "Of course I was being serious... It's my job." Smug.

"Um, exceedingly warm...?" James leaned forward, glancing towards their sisters from beneath his eyelashes. "No it's not... You don't have a job, yet." He snickered softly, darting another shy look at grey eyes.

"Exceedingly warm... And now I am exceedingly -damp-, while you, dybasch, are bone-dry. A sad situation indeed." As he speaks, he lifts his head and reaches up, grasping dry biceps and setting his feet against the side.

James tenses slightly at the soft word, one the other boy had never dared before, and now, in public, no less... Open-mouthed in wonder, he has time for one short breath before he's tumbled into the water. Lost in darkness as his eyes are closed, panicky, he reaches out blindly, uselessly. Strong hands are already half-lifting, half-pushing him to the surface; cradling his flushed face to a soggy shirt.

"You can stand up, now." There's a smile in Blackwater's voice, and his arms hold a little more tightly.

"You... Dybasch?" James murmurs the words, setting bare feet on the rough bottom and turning into the embrace, looking towards the girls again. One of them, he wasn't sure who, took another picture of them.

"You, dybasch. -My- dybasch." Beej's hands fold in the small of James' back, his head bowing so that his wet hair dripped in the younger man's eyes.

James batted half-heartedly at Beej's bangs, swiping more determinedly at the water running down their faces. "Dybasch... We shouldn't say it so much..." Fearful of it somehow losing its magic, the depth of the meaning conveyed by the little word... In lieu of explaining this, though, he tilts his head and gingerly pressed his mouth to Blackwater's.

It was a shy, gentle little buss, the barest tasting of the other's mouth... A sudden giggling pulls them apart, James sinking slowly under the water.

Blackwater scrubbed his fingers though his hair, giving the girls a silly, embarrassed grin, blushing once again.

The other boy surfaced again, a few feet away from his friend, still flushed. Wringing his hair out, he keeps his eyes down, more than a bit chagrined that he'd been so...so -bold-, in public. Another thought struck him, then, and he looked back up. He'd never dared, before this... Was this living, then, to make the choice to do something one was scared spitless of? And to succeed...? A bit of a smile touches his mouth at that, and he looks up, for no more reason than he wanted to see the sky.

Blackwater crossed his arms, standing hipshot and cocky, smirking in delight at their sisters. The fact that he was soaked to the skin didn't detract a bit, and Lyla took yet another picture.

James paused, staring at Beej, so pleased with himself and sparkling in the waning afternoon light. He hung back, watching, a sudden wish that they'd taken longer with their kiss rolling over him. Almost timidly, he stepped forward, one hand slipping up to rest on Blackwater's waist.

The darker-haired boy turned, still smiling, at the touch, a hand of his own rising to cup the line of James' jaw, thumb barely covering the corner of the full-lipped mouth.

Lyla, Jo and Nomi politely turned their backs on the two young men, laughing among themselves. They knew what their purpose was, in this rare moment -- chaperone, lookout, time-keeper and moral support -- and they were happy with it. The boys were happy, and the five of them were gloriously unsupervised and peer-free. All in all, it had been a -very- good day.

Blackwater lifted James' chin a bit more, lowered his own, peering deep into blue eyes... What he thought he saw there set a gentle smile to his mouth, which then carefully settled over the shorter boy's.