boywhoflew | (no subject)

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With school out of session and July in full swing, the boardwalk was alive with summer.

In a weird way, even having grown up in California, it felt more west coast that east coast in his opinion. The number of bodies wandering in shorts and tank-tops or even dressed down to their swimwear was so quintessentially standard that for a second he could almost picture it being more from a television show than real life. But for as many people were wandering the boardwalk, the beach proper was almost bare but for a few wandering families.

It was crowded up on the strip, but the water looked quiet. Almost private, if not for a few kids squealing as they splashed in the shallows.

He'd packed a duffle bag. Towels, sunblock, and a few bags of chips. Nothing but the basics when they had shops and food carts barely out of sight. But if he was honest, nothing seemed like much of a necessity when the apartment was a bus ride away and he had Dee to distract him.

With whatever black magic she somehow managed to use on him that left him with itchy palms and the impulse to smile like an idiot.

"In a few days when I'm peeling, I get to blame it on you." He said pointedly, raising an eyebrow and then giving Dee a wry grin.

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Biting back a laugh Carson settled his hands loosely on her waist, backing up just large enough of a step that they had room between them. "Okay," he began. "You're going to drop your weight and lean back. If the water somehow doesn't hold you up, I'll do it myself. Ready?"

"Yeah," says Girl, but she doesn't really sound it. Still, she's a Killjoy, and she survived out in the Zones for twelve years on her own, and she's not going to let a little saltwater beat her. "Just make sure you're there if I need you, okay."

She leans back, carefully, ignoring the way her stomach dips and lifts her feet off the floor.

"Just relax," he warned, keeping a loose hold on her waist. Her body sunk down into the water and he stayed ready to grab her if her head breached the surface and went under.

Girl tips her head back, trying to keep her face out of the water, letting the water and Carson take her weight. It actually feels kind of nice.

Part of him had actually been expecting the worst case scenario and that she'd dunk straight under, but even with the steady rock of the waves washing in she stayed afloat. With a grin, and some weird grip in his chest that might have been pride of all things, he slowly pulled his hands away and watched her buoy in the shallows.

"I think you've got this," he said, grinning down at her.

The minute that he says that, though, she moves or something, disrupts the line of her body in the water and starts to sink. She squeaks in panic.

He should have expected that, but somehow he hadn't. Reaching for her quickly he caught her before her head could go under, the water splashing when his hands caught her under her arms and lifted. "Don't freak out," he warned, holding her upper body high enough for the tops of her shoulders to stay above the water line.

Carson catches her and Girl trusts him not to let her sink. She flails a little bit, splashing water and turns so that she can cling to him. "I'm not sure I like it," she says.

Taking a steadying breath and counting to five in his head, Carson decided to try a different approach.

"Okay, new plan." He decided, chewing his cheek for a second as he thought. "Alright, stand up and c'mere. Maybe you'll like this better."

It isn't that she doesn't trust him. The ocean is just so far outside the realm of her experience. It's just so big. She does as he's asked though, her head tipped back so that she can look up at him.

"Okay."

"Don't worry, this should be a lot easier." He assured her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her back snug up against his chest. It was still a bit hot outside to be pressed close together like that, but the water helped, and he had a vague memory of swimming lessons as a little kid where this had helped.

"Okay," he started, shuffling his feet in the sand. "I'm going to slowly drop back into the water and take you with me. Just... relax, and don't flail around."

She's a little scared by how much she trusts him. It feels like trembling on the edge of something else, something huger than anything she's prepared for right now. She takes a deep breath and nods, leaning back against him.

"Okay," she says. "I trust you."

There was no reason for her to not trust him, but it still felt weighted to know that he had her trust. Even then though, it wasn't as if he was asking her to dive off a cliff with him. It was just them at a well populated beach, literally splashing in the shallows, and short of a sea monster attack he doubted they had much to worry about beyond getting their hair wet.

There was still something about it though.

"This part is easy," he told her, hugging her around the waist from behind. "We'll be heavier so we won't really float, but we shouldn't sink either. Ready?"

Girl takes a deep, slightly shaky breath and then nods, relaxing a little in his arms. She leans her head back against him.

"Yeah, okay," she says, nodding. "I'm ready."

"Okay, here we go." He warned her, slowly bending his knees so she could get the idea and follow along with him. When he was sure they were on the same page he dropped his weight backwards as if taking a slow seat, and while they immediately sunk down to their shoulders, he sprawled out his legs and let the water keep them suspended in the splashing water.

Waiting a second to make sure they didn't sink any further, he grinned into her hair. "Nice. I wasn't even sure that would work."

It feels safer, somehow, floating there with Carson behind her, pressed against his chest like that. She tentatively kicks her feet a little, enjoying the way it feels to move through the water.

"Yeah, okay, this definitely feels better."

"We're like otters," he quipped with a grin. Even with the rock of the waves it was easy enough to relax and settle back, biting down a grin when Dee kicked her feet. With a relaxed sigh he let the water carry them, only giving a few steering kicks himself when the waves threatened to wash them further into the shallows.

"This was a good idea," he told her, even if he could feel his ears and neck prickling from the sun.

"Yeah," says Girl, nodding, leaning back into the cradle of Carson's better, relaxing and letting the water carry them. She trails her fingers through the water, tracing them along Carson's thigh, idly playing with the hem of his shorts.

At the feel of her fingers spidering across his thigh his lips twitched. Kicking idly against the pull of waves, he quirked an eyebrow down at the top of her head. "If you try to start something you can't finish," he warned with a heavy tone of humor. "Don't think I won't take the opportunity to toss you in and see if you can swim."

"Oh, calm down," says Girl, rolling her eyes and grinning up at him. "I'm just touching you, okay? Because I like touching you."

"I'm just saying," he stressed teasingly. "That setting me up for a public boner would be insanely rude and kind of cruel. At least if you get turned on in public nobody knows."

"I would never ever set you up for a boner unless I was in a position to get my hands on it," she says, flashing him a bright grin. "Promise."

"I'm going to remember that when we get back to my place," he told her with a smirk and an arched brow. "Probably around the same time I'm checking to see if you got any tan lines while we were out here."

Girl giggles at that, kicking her feet in the water again. Carson's arms wrapped around her make her feel safe. The water is cool and the sun shines down. She's not sure if she's ever been this content.

"I think I can live with that."

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