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"What's the matter, Red?"
"Yeah, can't you swim?"
"You can't, can you?"
The Blues looked curiously at Red, their faces alight with amusement. He was scowling at them from the beach, plucking at a loose thread on his crimson swim trunks. "Course I can!" He snarled. "The water...it's just...cold."
The Blues looked each other in quiet disbelief for about a second before dissolving into hysterical giggles, nearly choking themselves on seawater. "Y-You...can't swim!" They sputtered as one, howling with laughter and splashing water all over.
Red, seated back on the sand, felt his face flush hot and lowered his head, playing more intensely with the loose thread on his trunks. "Dumb Blues..." He muttered under his breath. It wasn't like he didn't want to learn how to swim. He just had never....gotten the hang of it. That was all.
"Blues!" Matilda snapped as she swam up beside them, snuffing out their laughter like a breeze on a candle. "Now, don't make fun of Red. Lots of people can't swim," she sniffed.
"Yeah," Bomb grunted in agreement. "I only just learned," he stated, proudly treading water with huge strokes of his arms.
"S-Sorry, 'Tilda. Sorry Red," the Blues stuttered, still choking on their laughter.
Red grunted something that might have been an "ok". He looked up in mild surprise when he heard someone sloshing out of the water. It was Chuck, making his way toward Red with a little grin.
"Hey, man," Chuck said, settling down beside him on the sand.
"Mm. Hey."
Chuck flexed his toes slowly, clearing them of the sand stuck in between. "Red, you seriously can't swim?" His tone was low, strange for him. He was probably trying to prevent another round of laughter from The Blues, who had gone back to tossing a beach ball back and forth with Bomb.
Red didn't answer. If there was anybody he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of, it was Chuck. He crossed his legs and set his arms on top of them.
"You know....I could teach you. If you seriously don't know how," Chuck told him, his grin slowly coming back.
"Really?" Red asked him gruffly.
"Of course." Chuck nudged him with his sand-encrusted toe. "It's my job. Now, get up."
"What?"
"I said I was gonna teach you how to swim, and I can't do that with you on the beach, can I? Up! Move your lazy butt!"
Chuck then proceeded to shove repeatedly at Red's arm, seeming like he was trying more to knock Red over then get him off the beach.
"Ow-Chuck I was gonna-Ow-Jesus, Chuck-Ok, already!"
Huffing like a small child, Red pushed himself up off the sand and let Chuck steer him towards the water's edge, completely ignoring the way that he was being held was more like an embrace, and never noticing that little smirk he loved at the corner of Chuck's mouth. "Ok," Chuck declared when he had finally managed to push Red to the point where the water lapped at their ankles. Red shivered a little, wrapping his arms tight around himself. "Well, you got me out here. Now what?" He barked. Chuck grabbed Red's hand, entwining their fingers. "Ya gotta go deeper, man. This right here..it's not 'swimming'." Red sniffed. "You think I don't know that?"
In truth, he was terrified of going into deep water. It was just...bottomless, not like a pool. In a pool, you could just reach the bottom and push back off (not like he'd ever been in one, but still,). You couldn't do that in an ocean. You just...sank. He shivered a little and unconsciously gripped a little tighter to Chuck's hand. Even if he didn't notice, Chuck did, and he responded in kind. "D'aw. You need me to hold your hand, Reddie-Weddie?" He snickered.
......."Shut up."