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Nino considers his arms and legs. He works his lips trying to conjure a phrasing that both accurately describes what he does with them and is completely uncomplicated. How do you explain swimming in a way a young child can understand?
He looks over to the rest of the Césaire family, floating peacefully or dunking each other aggressively; don't any of them want to teach her how to do this?
"Nino, Nino!" Etta fights for his attention. Nino turns back to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"Come on, you gotta teach me!" she writhes around in her tube restlessly, her little legs kicking uselessly under the water. "You promised!"
"I did?"
"Yes," she bobs her head with a whine.
He sees Etta cast a longing glance at where her older sisters wrestle with their father where the water is too high for her to stand on her feet, and he sighs. It pulls on his heartstrings, because it's just sad, and now he has to help her because what kind of guy would he be if he didn't?
"Okay, Etta," he says, and the girl's eyes immediately find him, her body turning the tube to give him her undivided attention. "Watch me,"
Nino paddles in the shallow end awkwardly, the depth unable to allow him to float. To compensate, he plants his hands on the sandy floor and kicks his legs behind him, and his body stays up (more or less). Satisfied, he smiles at Etta.
"See?"
Etta screws up her lips.
Nino stops; he can see this isn't going to work if she stays in the tube– she needs to kick her arms and legs herself while lateral to the floor. But he doesn't think he should take her out of it. He's not really qualified to teach swimming in the first place. . .
His parents had just thrown him into the deep end and told him not to panic.
He's a pretty strong swimmer now, but Nino doesn't think Otis is going to appreciate the anecdote when he sees his daughter splashing wildly to desperately stay above water.
Besides, his parents had taught him to swim in a pool. This is the ocean. And he is so not getting Etta swept away by the tide.
Alya would kill him. If Nora didn't annihilate him first. Honestly, he's surprised Nora isn't breathing down his neck right now–
"You've got it all wrong, flyweight,"
Speak of the devil. . .
A shiver shocks straight up Nino's spine as a long shadow falls over him and Etta. The twin's face immediately lights up, elated to see her eldest sister appear, but Nino is dreading the imminent belittlement.
Nora's grin, sharp and sideways, drops as she leans over to frown in his face. "That's not how swimming works."
Nino frowns back. "I know how swimming works."
"Clearly, you don't," Nora remarks, letting Etta cling onto her arm with a fondness Nino would have thought the woman incapable of if he were not witnessing it right now, "I'm taking over."
He jabs a thumb at his chest. "I can teach her how to swim,"
"No you can't,"
"Yeah I can!"
"No you can't!"
"Yeah," Nino emphasizes, crossing his arms over his chest, "I can."
"Well I'm not letting you try and prove it with my baby sister." Nora mirrors his posture, folding her arms over her chest. It isn't fair, she's so much taller than him. It undermines his projection of firmness. Nino growls.
"Dude, we're in the shallow end. She'll be just fine!"
"Don't care." Nora dismisses him. Nino simmers– he didn't sign up for it, but he's resolved to teach Etta to swim, dammit, and he knows he can.
"Tell you what, flyweight," Nora smirks, lifting Etta right out of the water on her massive bicep, and Nino knows he's not going to like what she says next, "If you can get my head underwater, it'll prove you're strong enough to make sure Etta doesn't get hurt while learning."
Nino is normally level-headed, but now? Now, he's got something to prove. Nora is the only member of Alya's family that he hasn't won over yet. She doesn't think ill of him, but she also doesn't respect him much. It gasses Nino up, just a little. He can do this– he will.
This ends today.
He narrows his eyes up at the woman, "You're on–"
"Alright, alright, whoa,"
He's barely accepted Nora's challenge when Alya intervenes, putting herself between them. She places her hands on his shoulders to push him back some and Nino realizes he's been pushing forward the whole time, ready to charge. Over Alya's shoulder, he catches Nora's expression; he can't tell if she's pleased or if she wants to dunk his head into the sand.
"Nino, you're not wrestling Nora,"
He looks at Alya sharply. "Babe, I can take–"
"No,"
"But–"
"Nu-uh," Alya shakes her head. Her hands are still on his shoulders. "Seriously, she goes easy on us, but I know she's going to be hard on you."
"And as much as I am attracted to this," she gestures to all of him, referring to his ambitious mood, "right now," her father glowers testily over her shoulder at the comment, "you should leave it to my parents. They taught me and Nora how to swim, you know. They're perfectly qualified."
Nino rubs the back of his neck a little bashfully– he supposes she has a point. "Maybe you're right. But Nora–"
"Nora's just hazing you."
"Wha- hazing?"
"You couldn't tell?"
"Not really. . ."
"Trust me on this one," Alya says, and her eyes glitter. "If she really didn't like you, she wouldn't give you the time of day. The fact that she hazes you so much means she likes challenging you, which is a big complement."
"I'll take your word for it," Nino shrugs, blinking the dazzle out of his eyes and staring after a roaring Nora that spins with her two baby sisters latched to her arms, squealing excitedly.