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It wasn't that he hated the water. On the contrary, he actually looked forward to taking a dip in the ocean when they first arrived! But there was the fact that he was occasionally threatened by bouts of motion sickness from things prone to repetitive, wavy movements, such as, say, a giant inflatable raft. And there was also present company to consider, people he'd rather keep his glasses on around, and people he just plain didn't trust with a giant inflatable raft. So, yeah, Trey was quite happy with his choice to stay on the beach when Ace and Deuce tried to coax him out onto said giant inflatable raft.
He just couldn't figure out how they'd convinced Riddle to get on instead.
It was more than big enough to fit the three of them, but space quickly became an issue as Epel and Jack joined, then Kalim sprinted out into the surf shouting about how much fun that looked, and Jamil naturally went right after him, and Lilia even made a surprise appearance despite his distaste for the sun. Throughout the whole scuffle, Trey kept his eyes on Riddle, who appeared more and more apprehensive with his choice by the second. At least they weren't too far out if he had to bail. Or if a certain pair of mermaids showed up.
“Oh no…” As if they could read Trey's mind, an aggressive, approaching ripple in the water caught his sight a few feet from the raft. Grimacing, he debated on whether he should head down to the shore and call a warning.
“Here's that extra tow—wwwWOW, I missed a lot.” In an instant Cater discarded the towel into Trey's hands and whipped out his phone. “Look at ‘em all! Flocking like butterflies to jam! And Riddle's still chilling out there.”
“I wouldn't exactly call that ‘chilling.’” Trey chuckled, though his brow was pinched.
“So, hey, why aren't you out there with them?” Cater shot him a teasing smirk. “Coulda had a nice, sun-filled day with the bae.”
Making a dramatic show of rolling his eyes, Trey reached over a shoved Cater’s shoulder hard enough to make him stagger a little, but not enough to knock him over, laughing to show it was…mostly in good fun. Really, he was just grateful Cater hadn’t started recording before he’d said it. Eyes snapping back to the disturbance on the surface of the water, searching for any sign of fins, Trey answered, “I have my reasons, and I think we're about to see one of them.”
Jaw clenching, he braced for impact as the swimming mass reached the edge of the raft, its inhabitants completely unaware. However, the head that emerged was not one belonging to a scheming eel, but Sebek's, bursting from the water with a great gasp for air. They others immediately noticed, and Lilia scooted over to the edge to greet him cheerfully.
A decidedly better outcome, for Riddle’s sake. Trey let his shoulders fall slack. “Whew. I dunno if he's gonna be able to get on,” he commented.
“He could try. In fact, I hope he does.” Cater grinned, camera at the ready.
“Don't be mean,” Trey chided playfully, as it quickly became apparent that Cater would get his wish.
Sebek, roused by Lilia's presence and some jeering from Deuce, grabbed onto the squishy edge of the raft. A couple people moved about, Riddle shifting away to give him more room. Once he had a good hold, Sebek attempted to hoist his upper body on, only slightly misjudging the sturdiness of the plastic floatie. He sank into it while he tried to bring his leg on.
And the raft began to rock.
Caught in the middle of it all, Riddle whipped his head towards the beach, eyes wide and searching for advice.
Now if it HAD been one of the Leech twins, Trey would've helped without hesitation. Riddle had already expressed his concerns about them potentially tarnishing what should be a fun vacation, and he'd prefer to avoid any foul moods if he could. But since it was only Sebek…
Meh, Riddle could handle it.
Trey waved, smiling sweetly, and was met with a look that practically screamed betrayal before panic overtook it.
“Oooooh!” Both Trey and Cater exclaimed in unison as the raft came dangerously close to tipping, its residents scrambling to right the balance. A cacophony of fear mingled with excitement, Kalim's laughter in particular ringing clear in the air, and for a second it appeared as though Epel was successfully going to knock Sebek back off and foil his attempt at joining them. His shout was more than enough of a thunderclap to stun them all though (heck, it started the two of them on the beach too), and he managed to claw his way aboard.
“Oop, he's on!”
“Yeah, but—”
With everyone trying to counter Sebek's weight, the raft violently tipped in the opposite direction instead. Kalim became the first victim, tumbling rear over teakettle into the water. At least he seemed chipper about it. Jamil started half-crawling, half-sliding towards a safer edge to check in on him. And Riddle managed to hang on by keeping to the center (with some trouble, he kept slipping towards where the raft dipped under everyone's weight despite his efforts.)
Trey gestured towards the mess. "Yup, there it is. That right there is why I'm not with them."
The danger hadn't passed yet, though. As Jamil leaned over to help Kalim back up, an argument had broken out between Ace, Sebek, and Epel. Then, surprising them all, Epel shoved Sebek hard and practically threw him off the raft.
“AAAAND HE'S OFF!” Cater called like a sports announcer. “After such a hard-fought battle for a spot on the raft, Sebek just couldn't stand up to the tiny might of Epel!”
The jostling from the fight bucked the raft violently and caused Jamil to slip off the opposite end.
“And there goes Jamil,” Trey added, trying not to make his laughter too obvious. His next inhale was audible through his teeth as he watched Riddle skid precariously close to the edge. Come on, hang in there!
After a tense moment of white-knuckled clinging to the wet surface, Riddle crept his way to safety. Gradually, the raft began to stabilize. A mixture of excitement and nervous laughter wafted out from the group still aboard, beginning to disperse from their protective cluster. Riddle slowly, cautiously lowered from his kneeling crouch to sit, and Trey released the breath he'd been holding.
With their guards dropped, disaster struck; Sebek had swam around to the other side to escape Epel's wrath, and, with renewed determination, heaved up onto the side again.
And so did Kalim at the exact same moment, despite Jamil's urging to leave.
The raft almost went sideways. Everyone fell all over each other. It should've sent Riddle careening into the water, but Jack, good boy as he was, caught him around the waist—”WHAT A SAVE!”—and spared him his watery fate. In his place, Ace went absolutely flying off the edge, and the raft shot off a good few feet away. He sputtered and snapped obscenities at Sebek the moment he resurfaced, and Riddle’s admonishment for such foul language was instantly cut off by a startled yelp as the raft rocked again.
This time, as the frantic floundering began to die down once more, Trey and Cater both knew better than to assume it was over. As did Riddle judging by how he promptly began to search for the next safe hold. Because Ace was in the water, and Deuce was not.
Those that had tried to climb back on caught up from where they’d been left behind, and Ace circled around out of sight to avoid getting kicked should they try again. “Deucey, honey, don’t do it. Save yourself.” Deuce, blissfully unaware of the peril he was in, ignored Cater’s distant plea and sealed his fate by leaning towards the edge to comment or mock or say something to Ace, so when Ace lunged out of the water like a shark after a seabird, Deuce couldn’t pull away in time. He’d managed to rear back, but the surface was too slippery for his feet to get traction, and Ace seized him by the ankle. In one final, frantic bid for salvation, Deuce lashed out and grabbed the first person his hand could find, which just so happened to be Jack, latching hard around his arm.
“HEY!” Jack's shout echoed into the distance before he vanished among the flailing limbs in the water behind the raft, again launching it to drift away. Thankfully he'd released his hold on Riddle before then.
Finally, with the commotion moving to the water instead, the storm had passed. Three survivors remained upon the raft. They looked from the water to each other, as if gauging what to do. Then, Lilia sat up on his knees, threw his fists into the air, and cheered. Epel immediately joined him, and threw a couple taunts towards the boys splashing about in the water as well. At first Riddle appeared too annoyed about the mess as a whole to share in their enjoyment, but their celebration was too infectious to ignore; as he turned and made eye contact with both Trey and Cater on the beach, a grin split his lips, and he joined in the hooting, his own fist triumphantly swinging in the air. Enamoured beyond words, Trey mirrored him with a laugh.
“That's all she wrote! Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the victors of the annual NRC—”
“Annual?”
“—inflatable raft brawl! Stay tuned for a word with our—”
Now, Trey didn't really watch sports on TV, he had other hobbies he'd rather partake of instead, but he was aware of the phenomenon aptly named “The Caster's Curse.” And as soon as he heard someone (Ace, maybe? Sounded like him) shriek, he knew Cater had invoked its wrath; a second later, the raft flipped completely, sending all three screaming head-first into the water. As it floated away, Trey squinted to try and pick out the culprit, but everyone appeared to be equally spooked and scattered. Heck, Jamil was even frantically hauling Kalim back towards the shore. Just as he began to fear that a wild animal of some sort had approached, he spotted a familiar line of teal dorsal spines poking out of the water before its owner dived and disappeared again.
Ah.
Well…maybe Riddle was too distracted to notice?
Those hopes were quickly dashed; the water practically boiled around him as Riddle emerged, his face a vibrant shade of red against the blue sea.
A moment of silence passed. “...yeeeaaah, probably should've seen that coming.” Cater chuckled nervously, lowering his phone.
“Good thing you brought the towel,” Trey sighed, folded it over his arm, and trotted down to meet Riddle at the water.