fandomhighdorms | Basement Pool, Monday Afternoon

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Basement Pool, Monday Afternoon

Swimming might not have been the most obvious activity for Jono, but it had come up in a conversation Didi thought was about billiards, and somehow she'd become quite taken with the idea. If nothing else, it would fill another day of break before the trip to New York. She was looking forward to that -- she hadn't been in New York since the day with Sexton.

Dressed in her simple black tankini, she dropped her towel at the edge of the pool and sat, toes in the water. She beamed up. "It's warm!"

[OOC: For the modded with permission boy, but open pool!]

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You know, the bandages actually didn't look terrible with the swim trunks, if you got past the fact that Jono kind of had pasty white chicken legs? He couldn't help it. He was British and goth and hadn't been out and about in anything resembling shorts in... Well. He couldn't remember when he had been, last. Either way, he'd made it this far, and so he was feeling almost proud of himself by this point as he leaned over the edge of the pool, his hands on his hips.

//Well, that's good. Saves me th'trouble of heatin' it up myself, I suppose.//

"Not the worst use of your powers," Didi said, and slid down into the water in one motion. She wasn't looking at the chicken legs, which were about what she would have expected anyhow. Jono was, after all, British, goth, and not exactly the most athletic type.

She brought her hands through the water to splash a few droplets at him.

//It's colder when yer do that, yer know,// he chuckled, taking a seat on the edge of the pool and slipping his lets into the water. Yes, it was warm indeed. //But not too bad. Almost a shame I haven't done this before, really.//

Okay, so it took a little more self-confidence than Jono was usually possessive of. And there was no chance that he'd be caught doing this next week, with all of the new students about. Right now was a good time, if you asked him, with the island bloody near deserted as it was.

"I'm surprised more people don't use it," Didi mused, splashing a couple more drops for good measure. "I guess everybody goes to the beach instead."

She lifted her legs and went into a backfloat. "I like it like this. Like it's our private pool."

//Nasty weather for the beach, though.// Well, maybe someone like Bobby went to the beach in December, at least...

And then? In he went. And, seeing no immediate need to come to the surface, he puttered down around the bottom of the pool for a few moments.

//Whatever th'reason, I have to agree, luv. It can stay this way.//

And now up he was coming from underneath her, poised like a shark to grab at her ankle. Because it was right there, and Jono in a good mood was a shit-disturber at best.

"Yeah, I met people got their swimming done during the summer and then didn't think about it in December," Didi said. "I could get out and put up a 'pool closed' sign, think people would believe it?"

She had a feeling about what he was doing, but she decided to let him do it, because ... well. Because.

He managed to make sense of some of what she said, around the garble of the water. It was easier when it was just the two of them, without the additional ruckus of a crowd stirring things up in the pool. But it was still a sort of diluted noise. Having his ears underwater was going to make this a somewhat one-sided conversation. But that was fine, because... Well, if she was going to let him pull her under, then he was going to have to make it good, wasn't he? And they could make up for the snipped chunk of conversation as soon as his head wasn't all waterlogged.

Her letting him do this was kind of like permission, wasn't it? Jono was totally going to call it that. And he was going to exercise every bit of self-restraint that he had in order to keep from calling 'Shark!' as he did so.

Glub, glub, glub.

Didi shrieked a happy shriek as she went under and flailed in all the appropriately girly ways as she fought her way to the surface. "I am going to get you for that, Jonothon Starsmore."

Such a serious threat.

Oh, he was petrified.

You could tell by the smirk on his face as he peeked his head halfway above the water, just from his nose up. Enough to be able to hear that threat.

He looked something like a crocodile, if crocodiles were prone to having brown hair sticking limply to their faces and typically found themselves in desperate need of some sun.

//Dare I ask how, luv?//

Like a pale, brunet, crocodile who thought at you in English. Precisely.

Really, it hardly took any imagination at all for Didi to reach out, plant one hand on the top of his head, and shove down.

It probably went without saying that Jono's reaction was completely sputter-free, right? But there was a laugh, projected loud and clear through the water even though he was well dunked, and Jono was flailing in an attempt to get his head above the water again.

Not because he particularly had to, no. He could comfortably sleep on the bottom of the pool, and the worst he'd suffer would be some wrinkled toes. But keeping his head above the water was a force of habit, from back when he actually needed to breathe.

//I had that coming t'me, didn't I?// Half that sentence was out before he was even remotely successful in surfacing again. Also, he looked like a drowned, mummified rat.

"Uh-huh," Didi said, utterly unrepentant. She reached out to wipe some of that sopping hair out of his eyes. "It was fun, I'm not even going to lie and say it wasn't."

Before she could give it too much thought, she leaned in to kiss where his mouth should be.

... Jono was never going to get used to people doing that.

It wasn't that he was freaking out right now, no. This was unexpected. This was quite out of nowhere and Didi's face was pressing against fire. Of course, so far as fire went, this was about the safest fire in the world to put your face against, just so long as Jono was paying attention. And he appreciated that she was doing this. He was touched. He was even reaching to wrap his arms around her.

But he wasn't kissing back. He couldn't. And he didn't close his eyes. He had no mouth there. If he closed his eyes, he'd miss this kiss entirely.

He'd never known a kiss to sting so much, for just that reason.

A moment passed, and Didi's eyes slid open to see his reaction.

She moved away naturally and dove under the water to be alone with her thoughts for an instant, and resurfaced a few feet away.

"Stupid thing to do, huh?" she said wryly.

//Not stupid.// Just because Jono was torn between moving closer to her or sinking to the bottom and never coming up again didn't mean it was a stupid thing to do.

Just... complicated.

//I imagine I'm a bit lousy at snogging, though.//

She ducked under again and did a neat somersault. It wasn't that she didn't care; it was that she didn't know what to say and, if she kept moving, it felt more useful than standing around stammering.

"Yeah, but I didn't do it because I thought you were hiding amazing make-out skills," she finally said. "I did it because I wanted to kiss you, and now I did. I can stick to your forehead, it just makes me feel like somebody's aunt."

Don't lose your composure, Starsmore. She didn't kiss you because she wanted to see you slip into a vicious circle of self-pity, either.

//And it makes me feel like I'm about five,// he agreed, putting his fingers to the bandages where his mouth ought to be. It was nearly hot to the touch, now. He was getting worked up about this. He had to stop that. //I'm sorry I couldn't feel it, luv. Yer probably a very pleasant kisser.//

No, no, the self-pity was the hottest thing about him.

... very nearly literally.

"Don't worry about it. And I am," she said, folding her arms in mock hurt. "At least as good as whoever I was that weekend. Probably better."

He had kissed her, after all. They just hadn't exactly been themselves.

Small wisps of steam curled up from the water around Jono's chest, and he found himself swimming a few strokes backward. He doubted that he could boil the pool by virtue of being in it, but self-consciousness had settled in, and he wasn't entirely certain how serious a mild but very carefully controlled freakout could actually be, here.

//Well, then yer very good.// A pause. And an attempt at a joking sort of expression. It was kind of lousy, when you couldn't make a smile that wasn't actually there reach your eyes. //If yer would be so kind as to pretend that I was about that good, myself, I'd be grateful.//

Didi smiled in a way that didn't quite reach her eyes, either. "I figure that's only fair."

She watched the steam roll off the water. She wasn't in the mood to be boiled, and ... "Is it time for a break, maybe?"

Edited 2009-12-29 02:07 (UTC)

//Time for a break,// Jono agreed, furrowing his eyebrows a little and even managing something vaguely like a nod before diving under the water. There was less opportunity for steam if he was near the bottom, and he could move faster if he swam than if he were to attempt to bob his way to the edge. She didn't have to leave the pool, after all. He was the one with the built in heating system.

And when he'd reached the ladder, he was hauling himself out of the pool about as quickly as he could manage, his entire chest on upward practically sizzling, now.

At least he'd dry off quickly.

//Bloody hell.//

Didi flailed uselessly for a moment, then pulled herself up on the edge of the pool near his exit point by her elbows.

She wasn't much for depression, but this made her feel small and helpless and human in a way she didn't like.

"... sorry," she said, dispirited.

If Jonothon furrowed his eyebrows and pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes and refused to move from that position for a few moments, then he wouldn't have to see what was going on past the pressure-red explosions that were fading to black behind his eyelids. That worked out nicely for about ten seconds or so, at least.

There were bandages and there was steam and Didi, all of the above were reminders of what had just happened, there. And so when he opened his eyes again, he was going to focus on his toes. Toes were really a fascinating body part. All ten of them. Organized by shape and size. Perfect for sticking into the water in the pool.

//Yer didn't do anything that needs an apology, luv.//

"Well, I hurt your feelings," Didi said earnestly from her perch in the pool. "It's polite to apologize when you hurt somebody's feelings even if you didn't mean to, right?"

Really, she was annoyed, even as well as she was hiding it. He was sending up steam, and staring at his toes and, patient as Didi liked to think she was, there was some unfair irritation creeping in that he couldn't just let it go. She'd kissed him; it was hardly out of the blue.

Edited 2009-12-29 03:04 (UTC)

//I... suppose.// He wasn't entirely convinced, no. But at least he'd managed to turn his gaze a little sideways, more or less in her direction. //I think I'm more upset that I'm upset, if that makes any sense at all.//

Mortified, was more like it. Kicking himself because he couldn't just get over it already. Starsmore, you were being a stupid bloody twonk. Stop that.

"And I guess that makes me upset that you're upset that you're upset?" Didi tried. She went to climb out of the pool and sit next to Jono. "Y'know, I think you're amazing, but ... sometimes you really have to let stuff go. I did it on a whim. I'll ask next time. Promise. Should we swim more?"

She did it on a whim. It had been a nice whim. He'd liked it, about as much as a bloke possibly could like a kiss that he couldn't feel, and he hadn't gotten worked up about it until after the fact.

The whim hadn't hurt anything. He had to remind himself that. But first, maybe he'd just kind of lean a little sideways to bump his shoulder against hers. The steam had pretty much stopped, but that was mostly because there wasn't anything left to evaporate.

//Thank yer, luv. We can swim more, if yer want.// He couldn't boil the pool. Not unless he was trying or seriously freaking out. So swimming was fine.

"Swim more," Didi agreed, bumping him back before she slipped into the water. "We have the pool to ourselves and I won't molest you this time."

... which was said with some sense of irony, since molestation was generally not a problem in boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, but this wasn't exactly an ordinary relationship. So.

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Basement Pool, Monday Afternoon

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