Chapter Text
A tire swing next to a lake was an open invitation to fuck around no matter what, and Matt and Brad had every intention of accepting that invitation on their one day with no shows.
"I bet I can do a backflip off that," Matt said, surveying the drop from the swing into the water. The lake was relatively small, tucked away in a suburban part of the city. It wasn't even especially nice out, so nobody was around to share the lake with, and the water was a little choppy, but it didn't look too murky and there was no algae on it.
"If you wait for Neil to get here he can pretend he doesn't think you can do a backflip off it and then pretend to be surprised," Brad said. He tugged at the rope that the tire was hanging from to make sure it was secure. The branch it was tied to didn't even bend.
"By the time he gets here, we'll only have a couple hours left before we have to go pick up Barry from the convention!"
"You mean before you have to take your third shower of the day before we go pick up Barry," Brad teased. Matt made a face at him, but he also laughed. "Alright, but I'm going first because I drove here."
Brad pulled his shirt off and dropped it on a grassy patch near the tree, then made sure his shorts pockets were empty and jumped onto the swing. He jumped off when he was over the water and hit the surface with a resounding splash. Matt watched to make sure he came back up, which he did almost immediately, wiping the water out of his eyes.
"How's the water?" Matt asked.
"Cold," Brad replied, then ducked back under and came up out of the range of the swing. Matt took off his shirt and set it and his phone on the grassy area, then jumped on. He let himself swing back towards land once, just to gather momentum, before launching off and cannonballing into the water.
It was definitely cold, but in a refreshing way. Matt climbed out just so he could jump back in.
They swam for a while before Brad asked Matt to check the time while he was out of the water. Matt dried off one hand on the grass and picked up Brad's phone.
"2:41," he called. "When did Neil say he'd be here?"
"3 or so, unless the traffic's bad."
Matt glanced at Brad's phone screen again and saw that he had a message.
"You've got a text," he told Brad.
"One sec, I'll come get it." Brad swam over to the edge of the lake and got out. He opted to dry off his hands on his shirt and took the phone from Matt.
"Hey, I'll jump in and then you grab the swing when it comes back and jump in after me," Matt suggested. Brad shrugged.
"Alright, just make sure you jump off to the side so I don't land on you."
"You make sure you jump off to the side so you don't land on me," Matt replied. Brad finished answering the text and set his phone down, then nodded to Matt to go. Matt ran and jumped onto the swing. It jerked a little, making his dismount awkward, but he made sure to land off to the left to give Brad room.
He hit the water and all the wind was knocked out of him by what felt like something slamming into his chest. He shouted and kicked up towards the surface. It felt like an eternity before he finally breached, spluttering and with his arms wrapped around himself, trying to negate some of the pain.
Brad came up a moment later, and he was coughing.
"Are you okay?" he choked out. "You hit the water really weird."
Matt had to take a few moments to get enough air back in his lungs before he could speak.
"I think I hit a rock," he said. "Something definitely hit my chest."
"Oh shit," Brad said. "C'mon, get out so we can make sure you didn't break a rib or something."
Matt tried to move his arms, but decided the better course of action would just be to kick over to the shore. Brad got there first, still coughing a little, and helped him get up the slope. Matt sat down against the tree, exhausted. Every breath hurt.
"Are you just winded, or do you think you're hurt for real?" Brad asked worriedly. He had his phone in his hand, despite the fact that he was still soaking wet.
"Something definitely feels like it's fucked up in there," Matt admitted. He was shivering a little from the wind blowing against his wet skin.
"Hold on, I'll call Neil," Brad said.
Matt sat against the tree and tried to take deeper breaths, but the deeper he breathed in the more pain radiated out from his chest, and all he ended up doing was breathing faster. He felt like he was suffocating and his heart pounded, which wasn't helping the pain or the anxiety that was slowly building. All of it combined was making him feel lightheaded, and he shifted to try to find a less painful position to be in.
"I think he's really hurt," Brad was saying into the phone, but Matt didn't hear what he said after that, because he was too busy trying to calm himself down. He didn't feel cold anymore; he was actually weirdly warm, now, and his vision was spotty from the lightheadedness. Brad was pacing slowly, and Matt watched him to try and take his mind off the pain. It started to seem like it was working.
Right before Matt closed his eyes, Brad coughed up a mouthful of water.