Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a full sort of silence, holding mostly birdsong and the gentle lapping of water against the pool's edge. Leaning back on his hands, Malory looked up through the tree leaves, enjoying the sun that warmed his wide rim black hat, filtered past his over-sized sunglasses. One foot dangled idly in the water, while the other stayed planted firmly where it was until he felt a hurried tapping at his ankle. With a sigh, he let up on the pressure, and a moment later a boy, all wet curly hair and broad, shining muscle shot up from the water, Malory's foot still on one shoulder. As the boy caught his breath, the voice above him asked, "Do you have an answer, now?"

That chest heaved once, twice, and the boy finally replied, "You know how to swim."

"Wrong answer." The voice sounded more bored than disappointed, and that pale foot, with its perfectly manicured toenails, pushed back down on his shoulder. With a roll of the eyes and a deep breath, the boy allowed himself to be forced back down.

Aaron had always needed a little bit more repetition than other boys. Always needed a second, third chance to get it right. It has been a good three years since Malory had last seen him, and while he's obviously grown into that tall frame, those large hands, it seemed he was still the angry mess of a boy he'd known back at Hillworth. Lightning quick assumptions, the worst sort of reflexes (so quick to react stupidly, so slow to stop himself), and the personality of a brick to the face. It'd been a bit more charming in a seventeen year old boy. But the current view, Malory had to admit, was very nice.

His nose had been broken at some point in the last few years, and it really did something for that perpetually angry Adonis bone structure.

Taking a sip of his soda, he idly rolled the straw in his mouth until, once again, there was a hand on his ankle. This time he didn't bother asking anything at all, and simply waited in silence.

"I shouldn't have ignored you! But..."

Malory pushed him back down again.

It had taken quite a few texts, a great deal of guilting and threats, and a series of increasingly distracting photos to get Aaron over to his house. But once he was here, the rest was already easy. The boy was the sort that only had enough real resistance to offer a single, stubborn barrier, and once past that, he'd collapse, piece by piece, yard by yard until there was no place left to offer in surrender.

That hadn't changed, either.

The tap at his ankle came sooner this time.

"I'm sorry!" The answer came out in a rushed gasp, before Aaron had even caught his breath.

"For?"

"Ignoring you. I shouldn't ignore you!"

With a huff, Malory set down his drink, "I could have died. Even if I know how to swim, doesn't mean something can't happen to me. If I say 'help me', you come and help me." A pause, and then, as an afterthought, "Or whoever else is out in the water calling for help. It's your job."

"I'm sorry. That was wrong. I was being petty."

"It really hurt my feelings, it was so embarrassing."

"I'm so, so sorry," Aaron looked up at him with large, brown eyes, his hand reaching up to touch the foot that had been pressing him under the water. A tentative, careful caress, like Malory was delicate, like he'd break with thoughtless manhandling. "I can make it up to you?"

Kicking away the hand, Malory slid his foot under that chiseled chin, lifting it with his toes. "I've cleared out the next two days for you to make it up to me."

"Thank you."

"Good dogs don't need to say thank you, Aaron."

A long silence and then, suddenly disrupting the quiet of the pool, a rough and reluctant, "Woof!"