(no subject)

[amicably_absent]

Glitch had swum for hours, chasing fish and insects and bubbles and sunbeams. Eventually, worn out and tired, he had swum to shore and curled up on the bank on the sun warmed pebbles, grumbling about his lack of coat until he fell asleep.

He woke up with Rennie shaking him, a scolding voice telling him he had to come in, he was all wet and dirty and needed a bath and clean clothes, and was she going to have to strap him in the chair.

Glitch reacted predictably.

He screamed at her, judo flipped her while sitting down, dove into the water, swam to a far edge and took off.

Rennie asked Cain to go find Glitch and bring him in before he froze or hurt himself.

Glitch had retreated to the rotunda, sitting on the seat and swinging himself back and forth, watching the sun setting on the lake. He was soaking wet again, but his trembling didn't seem to worry him at all.

Comments

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Probably! Do I have hidden martial talents?"

He leaps across another gap and winds over to where Cain is, sitting down on the edge of the hedge. "Hi. I seem to be wet."

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Cain shrugs, and waits for Glitch to come on closer. "Hidden from me, at least. I'm sure they're less hidden to you, and yes, you're wet."

Still looking like a wet cat, but Cain doesn't mind much. "I'm here to get you indoors and cleaned up and warm again. Unless you like catching colds out here."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, nifty. I have hidden martial skills." He swings his legs. "I'm wet, so I must be clean. Right?"

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"You can kick butt any day, you just need some sort of trigger." He smiles, his eyes pulled to Glitch's none too clean feet. He remembers a similar argument from Jeb, when he was a boy, and hated washing up after a day of outdoor games.

"Not necessarily. I bet you've been swimming all day, soap not included."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I... went swimming with someone and then I swam more and then I had a nap and..."

He frowns, looks to Cain and then beams. "Hi there!"

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"Hey." Cain reaches out to pat his friends shoulder. "How about we go back inside, get you into some nice, dry clothes, and raid the kitchen for something to eat?"

He isn't sure why he doesn't just tell Glitch they went swimming.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I guess so." He jumps down, sliding down onto the bench and then to the cracked pavement. He shivers hard and frowns. "I think I'm cold. But at least my pants aren't white and see through with the water."

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Cain follows suit, and figures he might as well just drape the coat he brought over Glitch's shoulders.

And then his face flushes with embarrassment. "Yeah. There's that."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch snuggles into the coat, thin hands curling on the lapels to draw them shut.

"I went swimming today. And we watched a really lovely man chopping wood."

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"Uhuh." Keeping his tone of voice as noncommittal as possible, Cain steers them both out of the labyrinthine mass of hedges.

He shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't let Glitch prattle on without knowing who it was, chopping wood, but he can't make himself fess up. He's not used to being the object of people's attention quite like this.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Uhuh," Glitch agrees. He follows alongside Cain like a puppy, barely keeping focused on where he's going, feet almost tripping over tiles constantly.

"My feet ache. Oh, we went swimming earlier, didn't we?! Is that why I'm wet?"

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And always, always, Cain is there to keep him steady. For a given value of steady, of course. "We sure did."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Oh wow, that means the gorgeous chopping wood guy is you!" Glitch says it loudly and brightly and only seconds later, the implication sinks in and both hands go up to his mouth, eyes wide.

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Cain blinks, glances to the side, then figures it's up to him to dispel the very sudden, very awkward tension.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, Sweetheart. I do my best."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

And Glitch's tension fades away, smiling shyly from behind his hands. "You're welcome?"

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"I sure am. I'll strike a very masculine pose if you don't believe me, prove your point about my what was it? Boyscout syndrome?"

He can't help himself; Glitch's smile is just too infectious; he starts grinning.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch giggles more. "Nah, won't make you if you don't want. Will you be chopping the wood again tomorrow?"

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"That depends," Cain muses out loud, tilting his head to better meet his best bud's eyes.

"Will you come watch?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch smiles wide and easy. "Sure, I will. Long as you don't go starting before I get up."

His stomach makes a positively obscenely hungry noise. "Sh. Wyatt and I are talking."

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"Early birds, Glitch, early birds. If you don't get up when I do, you'll just have to miss out." He pats Glitch's shoulder, realizing he hasn't really let go yet. They reach the entrance of the maze, looking out on the green yard and the big ol' country house-cum-palace.

"Food first, or cleanup?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I don't know when you get up. I slept lots because there was no one to remind me to stop sleeping." He nods firmly. "Um... food. I'm hungry. Oh, but I'll track mud through the house. Maybe wash."

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"You'll still track mud through the house to get to your room, you know."

And even as the words tumble out of his mouth, he has an idea how to fix that problem that doesn't involve sending for maids to clean up the mess. But it would just be so...inappropriate.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Oh." He pauses and stops in his tracks as he thinks about it. "Maybe, I can... I don't know. You could bring a bucket of water to the backdoor and I'll wash my feet there!"

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And that would just be mean, to leave Glitch out in the cold. No, he'll just have to go ahead and test his own limits already.

"Or I could just give you a lift to your room."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Give me a lift?" Then he brightens. "You mean carry me?!"