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Using their axe to cut through the thick foliage, Bloodhound sighs in relief as they finally arrive at their destination. A beautiful freshwater lake greeted their eyes, with pristine water that glinted perfectly in the morning sun. Mara followed closely behind, carrying a thick backpack of gear, while Walter shuffled his feet, exhausted from packing his cooler (they had warned him, but of course he never listened). Places like these were hard to find on Gaea, given its tropical nature, usually people settled for the sandy beaches, but Bloodhound preferred the quiet and serenity that came with these lush pools of water. If anything, it reminded them of their homeworld, which brought comfort.
Today was to be filled with sport, fishing, some hunting, the fresh air would serve them all well. Despite their rough start, Mara had grown on the older couple, sharing interests and bringing forth a protectiveness in each of them. Before long, it had become second nature for them to invite her on their excursions, anything to help get the young woman out of the Legends Paddock back on Solace. Not to mention that Echo and Artur seemed to enjoy each other's company.
Walking along the water's edge, Bloodhound made their way over to their favorite spot. On one similar trip out here with Walter they had begun building a small cache to keep supplies out here, simple items they wouldn’t miss if they disappeared or were too lazy to pack back and forth constantly. Pulling out a parasol and a bundle of towels from a lock box they had secured to a tree, Bloodhound made themself a nook in the shade. Shedding their jacket and backpack, they made themself a makeshift pillow as they grabbed a thick book they had traded for ages ago.
As Mara adjusted her own clothing down into her swim gear, she turned to Bloodhound. “Aren’t you going to join us?”
“Fishing, perhaps, though I do not swim.” Bloodhound pushed their goggles up onto their forehead.
Tugging his shirt over his head, Walter smirked. “I didn’t take you for the shy type.”
Raising an eyebrow, they cracked the pages of their novel open. “You know I am not self-conscious Walter, I’m nearly forty-one for Allfather’s sake. It is mostly because I am prone to sunburn along with the fact I am a poor swimmer.”
“Wait, Houndy, you can’t swim?” Walter gawked, mouth dropping open.
“I can swim well enough, it keeps me alive if I ever fall in, but I do not enjoy it otherwise.” Bloodhound hummed before reaching up to tap their respirator. “After my lungs were damaged in my fight with the Goliath, I have avoided being submerged in water. Since then, I have only gone swimming a handful of times, not including accidents that occur at the Apex Games. My respirator isn’t meant to get wet and it is a miserable affair when it does.”
Looking between each other, Mara and Walter seemed shocked as Bloodhound’s eyes flicked down to their book once more.
“So you’re not going to come in at all?” Mara slightly pouted as Echo swooped under the umbrella to hang from its wooden frame.
“I can be enticed to wade up to my waist, but beyond that, no. I am content cooking, reading, and resting.” Bloodhound reassured the younger Legend, seeing that she was nervous about leaving them out. “Now go you two, come back and get me if you find anything interesting.”
Patting Mara on the shoulder, Walter smiled, “Come on kid, we’ll check on Houndy in a bit, let's give ‘em some time to themself, yeah?”
Smiling Mara nodded before following the older man towards the waters edge, chatting about the chill of the lake as they began to sink beneath the surface. Letting their head tip back into the balled up fabric of their coat, they stretched out their legs, occasionally peeking over the words of their novel to watch their husband and friend splash about, trying to dunk each other into the water. It was amusing to watch the pair, almost homey, in a way.
Walter had felt strongly about Mara joining the games, being hard on the young woman at times, but it came from a place of worry. Initially, they both paid the girl no mind, especially given how she’d railroaded them into talking about their mutual feelings for one another. However, now that the dust had settled, they were more welcoming towards her. If anything, in their own ways, they’d taken a watchful eye over the young Legend, not wanting to see her get hurt. If anything, she had become a welcome part of their lives, as had many of their other companions they found at the arena.
Overhead, Bloodhound listened to Artur lurking in the skies above, easily picking out the sound of his wings upon the wind. By the end of their outing Artur was sure to have collected a pile of pebbles and bottle caps, all as gifts for the trio. Allowing the sun to soak into their bones, their body instantly relaxed. For once, they allowed themself to be at ease, knowing that Mara and Walter would not stray far, not to mention Artur’s watchful eyes scanning the area for Prowlers that may stumble across the group. Naturally, it wasn’t long until their eyes began to grow heavy, begging to catch up on restless nights that they could never seem to shake. Even after getting married, their stubborn body refused to sleep in, as much as they begged for it. Sometimes they would simply lay alongside their husband until he awoke, but more often than not they were up and out of the house before dawn split open the skies.
For now though, their body fell into a blissful haze before allowing them to slip into unconsciousness.
“Love? Oi, Houndy, wake up.” Their shoulders were gently shaken, rousing them from their slumber.
“Hmm?” Blinking away the crust that had formed over their eyes, Bloodhound raised their head.
Walter’s smiling face was the first thing that greeted them. “Took you a moment to get up, had me all worried. I hope your nap was good.”
Bringing their sand covered hands to their eyes, Bloodhound grumbled out. “Mitt apologies, I didn’t mean to fall asleep like this, merely rest my eyes.”
Chuckling, Walter leaned forward, pressing a kiss to their temple, running a hand over their bicep. “Don’t worry about it love, I was more than ready to let you keep sleeping, it's just that Mara and I have a little something to show you.”
Scanning the area, Bloodhound caught sight of Mara crouched over something by the lakeside. With a hand from Walter, they got to their feet, back satisfyingly popping as they began to move. Getting closer, a long plasticky board greeted their eyes, with an oar sat on top.
“What is this?” Bloodhound placed their hands on their hips, mouth agape under their mask, taking in the objects placed before them.
Walter sheepishly smiled. “A paddle board, Mara and I got to thinking about earlier and pulled some quick favors. Reckoned that you could at least float around the lake yourself. I know you enjoy taking out canoes for a ride every once and awhile.”
Turning to Mara, Bloodhound spoke. “Where did you manage to find these, certainly you hadn’t just been packing it around.”
The woman only smiled. “It wasn’t all that hard to get back to your village and figure something out. You were sleeping pretty heavily, but don’t worry, Walter was with you the whole time.”
“You two – you didn’t have to do this – I was truly alright with staying on the shore.” Bloodhound puffed, shocked by the gesture, their chest growing warm.
Walter rested his hands on their waist. “C’mon love, you deserve to have fun like the rest of us, not just waiting around all day.” He gave their hips a gentle squeeze. “We aren’t gonna make you do anything you don’t wanna, but we still wanted to let you know that we were thinking of you.”
“You always seem to know how to touch my heart.” Bloodhound sighed happily as they stepped forward to grab the oar.
“Go on,” Walter encouraged gently. “I’ll keep guard of our campsite and get a fire started for us, sounds like a plan?”
Chuckling to themself, they stepped aboard before pushing themself away from the shore. They easily found their balance as they paddled off with Artur and Echo following them close behind. Bloodhound remained on the water until dusk, with Walter calling his spouse and Mara in for dinner and a song.
It's only a month or so later when a text is sent out in the primary group chat for the Legends, Elliot giving out invitations to some sort of pool party. With anything planned by Elliot, it was best to err on the side of caution and a healthy dose of skepticism. It wasn't that Elliot was dumb, however he had a tendency to get ahead of himself at times, causing all kinds of chaos to follow.
“What do you think of this, love?” Walter called from their bedroom as he scrolled through his inbox of unopened messages. “Witt actually remembered to send out invites this time.”
With a mug in hand, Bloodhound appeared into the room, sinking onto the mattress to read over their husbands shoulder. “Could be interesting, however, functions like that…”
“Aren’t really your thing.” Walter finished for them. “I hear you, just thought it might be good to go visit some folks.”
Tracing their fingers along the lip of their cup, Bloodhound quietly contemplated the offer. “I’m not opposed to it, so long as it won't cause you any issues, my Walter.”
Smiling fondly, Walter knocked his shoulder into theirs. “You? Cause me problems? Never, love. You’ve got your own boundaries and I’m fine with that, your comfort isn’t a burden to me. Whatever makes you happy makes me happy.”
“Thank you.” Bloodhound sighed as they sipped their tea before adjusting the cannula in their nose.
Walter reached up to gently brush some stray strands of hair out of Bloodhound's face. “Don’t mention it.”
As predicted, their little pool party excursion was far from a subtle affair. They could hear the music from several blocks away, even before they crawled out of the taxi. From beneath their sunhat and goggles, Bloodhound looked to Walter with amusement. They expected nothing else. Placing a hand on their lower back, Walter led them up the stairs. As always, Bloodhound remained relatively modest, a short sleeved swim shirt that cupped the ends of their elbows, along with knee length shorts that they had borrowed, while Walter had on his trademark tank-top and a similar style of shorts. Layers of decades old ink and pale scars were on display across Bloodhound's arms and legs, it wasn’t something they were ashamed of, just not something they showed others often. Their red respirator was still firmly fastened to their face, hissing and humming as they moved.
Making their way through the labyrinth that was the building Elliot had rented for the day, they found them a couple floors up from the ground. Following the shouting and hollers of delight, the sliding doors greeted them with a swish, revealing a wall of bodies screeching and splashing about.
Dutifully, Ajay and Makoa diligently watched over the pool, acting as lifeguards for their companions, especially Octavio who was already running and diving in head first.
“Aye! Look who finally decided to show up!” Elliot appeared, throwing his arm across Walter’s shoulders. “It’s good to see you both and Houndy, look at you! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything besides your work clothes! Not that it uh, matters, or anything! It's great – cool even – you’ve got uh cool tattoos too. I didn’t know you had them.”
Tipping their head to the side, they evaluated the young man who was pulling on their husband. “I’ve had them since I was at least half your age.”
“Huh. Well that's awesome!” Elliot snapped his fingers and made finger guns. “Anyways, do you mind if I borrow your husband for a bit? Got a job for him.”
“Wait – what?” Walter was stunned, but was unable to react as he was already being tugged away.
Waving their hand dismissively, Bloodhound chuckled. “Do with him as you wish, I only ask that he returns to me in one piece.”
“Houndy, you wound me.” The older man whined at their feigned indifference as he was taken away to do God knows what.
Smiling under their respirator, they kept themself clear of the edge of the pool, slinking around the edge to sit on the thin white beds meant for sun tanning.
From a large white swan shaped floatie in the middle of the pool, Loba waved to them. “Hey there beautiful! I thought you’d never show up.”
Waving back, they felt several pairs of eyes settle on them. They were far from self conscious but that didn’t mean they enjoyed being put into the center of the attention. Renee and Natalie passed a beach ball back and forth while Tressa moved to sit next to Bloodhound on the next chair over.
“Good to see you out here.” The woman hummed as she leaned back, crossing her pale legs. “These sort of things aren’t often my style, but I reckoned I’d show up for once.”
Simply nodding along, Bloodhound picked at a thread on their shorts as they conversed, it was nothing more than small talk, but it was very much appreciated regardless. After a few minutes, Walter reappeared into the edge of their vision right as Mara and a handful of the other younger Legends took the opportunity to shove him into the water.
Laughing behind their hands Bloodhound watched in amusement as Ajay scolded them all with little success as everyone jumped in every which way. Water splashed over the stone lip of the pool as they were tossing each other around. Another burst of laughter filled the air, it was hard to hear anything else but the group's glee. Even Pathfinder seemed to be enjoying himself and catching on to the Legends antics. Eventually, Houndy was the only one who wasn’t in the pool. Loba and Ramya fought for dominance of her floatie while everyone cheered the women on.
Taking the chance while everyone else was distracted, Bloodhound slipped off their seat and padded over to the edge of the pool, taking a seat and dipping their feet under the surface of the strongly chlorinated pool water. It felt nice, a cool contrast to the scorching heat of the sun. They smiled to themself as they watched their friends act as though they were children.
“Doing alright, love?” Walter hummed as he waded over, gently pushing apart Bloodhound’s legs so he could rest his head on their thighs.
Settling their legs over his shoulders, they ran a hand through their husbands damp hair. “Yes, I am fine, mitt Walter. I’m merely… enjoying the show.”
Now everyone was passing the victorious Loba around in a circle, the woman helpless as she was trashed around on her plastic swan.
“S’all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” Walter chuckled as his stubble ran along the exposed skin near their knee.
Rolling their eyes, Bloodhound snorted, gently playing with the white strands at the front of Walter’s head. “I believe Miss Che would have something to say to all of us if someone were to be injured.”
“She is certainly trying to get a hold of the situation, that's for sure.” By now, the woman in question was berating Elliot and Octavio on the far side of the pool, scolding them both with Makoa’s assistance.
Leaning into Bloodhound’s touch, Walter had his full attention on them, the rest of the world around them melting away.
Taking a deep breath, Bloodhound gently pulled back their hand, beckoning the man's eye to open. “Can your feet touch the bottom of the pool?”
Humming, Walter lifted his head, placing his hands on their hips. “Yeah, for the most part, at least in this half of the pool I can, it gets a bit deeper at the other end though.”
Scooting across the tiles, they began to shimmy off the edge and lower themself into the water, cautiously.
Firm hands held them steady, Walter smiling up at them as they were pressed chest to chest. “I’ve got you, Houndy, don’t worry.”
Slipping his arms underneath their rear, Walter scooped up his lover, letting them wrap their legs around his lower back so he could pack them around the pool. It hadn’t been what they intended to happen, but they were more than happy to be held like this. If anything, it reduced the risk of them getting water into their face. Resting their chin on his metallic shoulder, Bloodhound scanned the pool, spotting some water guns in the hands of the regular mischief makers of the Legends paddock.
From here they could feel the rumble of Walter’s chest as he spoke. “If you even think about it Elliot, I will kill you.”
Apparently that was enough to get the point across to the other’s in the pool, who then returned to shoving Loba around in her blow up swan. They were now calling the game Lo-ball, a not so clever play on words. Walter packed them around the shallower parts of the pool, taking them over to talk to their friends as he saw fit, enjoying their weight in his arms. There was something serene and sweet about it, almost enough for Bloodhound to fall asleep in Walter’s arms.
They may not have gone swimming, but all the same they enjoyed their day out at the pool.