A/N: My motivation is lower than my grades and honestly guys, I think I finally found my talent: procrastination.
But seriously speaking, I've finally had the time for an update and I know how painful slow updates are: I hate them as much as you do.
I can't promise when my next update will be because of certain things. But I'll still be trying so ye ✌😭.
Also, important note at the end. Please read it so you don't get confused in the later chapters.
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{ 3rd person P.O.V }
"Mind if we all play tag?"
Alexander squeezed Elijah's shoulder and smiled at his other two friends. "Thought it would be a good idea considering we're all here."
Noah burned beetroot under the silence: He knew everyone was looking at him. Of course, they wouldn't forget what Ray just did right in front of everyone so easily.
This is so humiliating...
"If he's playing I'm not pla-"
"I'm not playing curly fries. Don't worry." Ray clicked his tongue, cutting Elijah off.
"Great! I'll be 'IT'." Alexander slapped his other hand onto Elijah's other shoulder, leaning down so his chin was tickling the top of his ear. "And we're all going to play, right?"
Priyanka looked at Elijah's stiffened posture, to Alexander, and then to Noah's flustered appearance. She raised her eyes to Aiden who shared a glance that urged her to say something.
"Hold on, did you call this 'tag'?" Priyanka butted in, kicking Alexander's leg underwater, "Isn't it called 'Marco Polo'?"
Alexander flinched at the kick and slowly slid his hands down Elijah's arms, before letting go of him completely. He stared at Priyanka, a smile twitching the corner of his mouth. "Did you just kick me?"
Displaying an innocent smile, Priyanka feigned confusion, looked down at the water as if looking for the culprit and looked back up at Alexander with wide eyes, "Me? I would never."
Alexander squinted his eyes in playful accusation and hummed, "Marco Polo? Isn't that when the person has to close their eyes and look for the person who calls out?"
"I have an idea. Ever heard of Popsicle Freeze Tag?" Aiden asked, catching Ray's eye. After the chorus of 'no' and shakes of head, Aiden smiled, the ceiling lights' gleam tinted in his eyes. He kissed his teeth together and carried on with an explanation of the game. "So. There's a person who's 'IT' and whoever they catch, that person has to stay still in the water. They have to stay 'frozen'. Right?"
He looked at everyone to see if they were keeping up and nodded, "The only way to unfreeze someone is if another person swims between the frozen person's legs."
Ray lifted his head at this and looked at Alexander. A slow smirk stretched Alexander's lips and he tilted his head to the side, whistling. "I like the sound of that."
"I'm joining if we're playing this." Ray looked down at Noah who still had his face parallel to the water surface. Elijah went to lift his foot and stamp it, but then realised they were underwater and that it didn't have as much of an impact as it would have on land.
Sometimes Elijah cursed gravity and the apple that fell on Isaac Newton's head.
"I'm not joining." Elijah protested firmly, ignoring the saddened looks Priyanka and Noah sent his way.
"... Don't look at me like that, you'll make me feel guilty."
From behind, fingertips glided against Elijah's side underwater and out of sight from everyone else as quickly as how it went. "Yes you are joining. Just look at how sad you'll make your friends." Alexander nodded his head in Noah's direction with a smile. He couldn't help but glance at Noah through his peripheral vision.
The smaller boy had stuck out his lower lip, twisting his face into that of a 'puppy eyes' expression.
God damn it. I always give into that- no stay strong Elijah.
Ray snickered, "Or maybe the reason he doesn't want to play is because he can't swim fast."
Listen here you son of a-
"I'm playing." He decided immediately. Elijah glared at Ray and said, "I'm probably faster than you, you dic-"
Noah quickly slapped his palm over Elijah's mouth, silencing his curse to a muffled murmur. They didn't need a repeat of what happened in the classroom to happen again, especially in a swimming pool. Ray seemed like the person to hold someone's head under the water till they drown.
Aiden sighed, rubbing his temples and smiling, exasperated. He turned to Priyanka and whispered "I have a feeling we won't be able to play a game without blood being spilt."
She snorted at this and slapped Aiden's shoulder lightly, "No, we are definitely playing." You could say Priyanka was determined to make it work and get everyone to play along well with each other. After all, this was her best friends and her family in the swimming pool. "Alexander! You're 'IT'. Give us all 10 seconds to swim away."
Alexander let go of Ray, who looked ready to pounce at Elijah any moment. "Alright! Ill start counting. 1..."
He nudged Ray on the shoulder with his fist and nodded in the opposite direction from Elijah. "2!"
Everyone scattered and began to swim away from Alexander, mostly swimming to the edges that were the furthest away from him. Elijah was definitely, the furthest person away from Alexander and was all the way at the opposite end. Alexander raised a single eyebrow at this and shook his head slightly with a scoff.
It's alright. Besides, I love being the hunter.
Gripping the edges, Elijah pushed himself smushed against the corner, with only his head above the water.
"10! What does Alison say again- oh! Ready or not, here I come!"
Alexander pressed his lips together to refrain his smile at the sight of Elijah blatantly trying to hide in the open. Even if his whole body was underneath the water, the man could still see him through the water from the surface.
He stretched his arms above his head and closed his eyes smiling, letting out a groan of relief. Upon opening his eyes, they were hooded with a predatory gleam beneath his pupils.
To Alexander's left, Ray had his eyes trained on Noah, who was warily eyeing Alexander with his arms apart incase he had to escape.
I'll get yours for you after I get mine.
Alexander bent his knees, leaned forward and took a deep breath of oxygen before dunking his head underwater. With a sudden burst of energy, he surged towards the deep end, arms and body slicing through the water within seconds.
Elijah's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up, disappearing into his curls curtaining his forehead. Alexander was rocketing towards him in an alarming speed, causing Elijah to break free of his sudden shock and kick his legs to the side.
But for some reason his legs weren't exactly cooperating as well as they usually would in swimming. Elijah didn't know if it was the panic in him yelling at him to get away, or the sheer sight of Alexander surging towards him like a shark that saw its prey.
"Wait- Why me-?!" A shriek fell from Elijah's lips as a large hand grabbed his ankle in a firm grip, yanking him from the side wall. This caused his whole body to vanish underwater and he lurched up, spluttering and grabbing out to something solid for support.
His hands grabbed onto something rock-hard but with a soft layer. Elijah wiped the water away from his eyes, still gasping and coughing for air. He pulled himself towards it- whatever it was- and gripped onto the firm stability, tighting his arms reflexively around it for support.
Once he was able open his eyes without water stinging them he came to see that both him and Alexander were chest to chest, Elijah still spluttering over his shoulder, arms clinging to him.
The man had swam to the deep end where Elijah was with full speed, passing Ray, Aiden and Noah who were the closest to him. Elijah cursed Alexander in his mind, questioning why the other man didn't get the easy catches while he coughed for air to fill his lungs.
At the moment he couldn't care less that he was caught: This position was startling.
Alexander had pulled his ankle forward towards himself, Elijah's leg now being aligned with Alexander's hip. His other leg had floated slightly upwards, and was gently brushing Alexander's knee.
And both Elijah's arms wrapped suffocatingly around Alexander's neck didn't exactly make this position any less... erotic. Especially with Elijah panting as he recovered from the short moment of what his dramatic self would call 'drowning'.
"Y-You-"
Alexander grinned down at Elijah who had a clear expression of shock in place. Pulling him closer, Alexander kicked his legs lightly beneath them two to keep them afloat, seeing as Elijah was still processing what happened and the speed Alexander was able to swim at.
Elijah seemed to be lost in thought and no longer payed attention to their position, focusing on catching his breath back. Alexander let him do that and turned to look at his two friends.
Priyanka and Noah wore an appearance of horror to see Alexander move as if he lived in the water in his previous life. He laughed loudly, running his fingers through his now dark hair and flicked the strands off his forehead.
"Why the horrified faces you two? Didn't expect me to swim like that?" Alexander boasted with pride and turned back around, leering down at Elijah's horror-stricken face with a smirk. Meanwhile, Ray watched as realisation doomed onto Noah and his face changed to one of disbelief and distress. Ray scoffed, lazily floating near the middle at the side of the pool.
Alexander smiled down at his captive and traced a single finger up Elijah's spine, "Well, thank you for the practise start Elijah. You're stuck now till someone frees you."
"But- That wasn't fair, I wasn't ready." Elijah blurted out, ears growing dark at the childish excuse. Alexander looked at him and blinked, obviously expressing that he too found that excuse ridiculous. "...I'm in the deep end... I could drown... I have to at least swim to the shallow-"
Alexander switched the position, floating Elijah so he now was on his front with Alexander beside him. His arm was wrapped around Elijah's slim waist from behind, crawling to the front, supporting Elijah's weight to keep him afloat. "Nope! You're stuck darling. I guess I'm going to have to save you from the deep end and take you to where your pretty little self can feel safe."
Elijah went to protest, but the two were already halfway across the pool, with only Alexander holding up and swimming the two of them to the shallow end.
How the hell is he doing this?!
He was holding up both their body weights combined and was even swimming... and didn't appear to struggle.
Slowly, the water began to feel less dense and easier easier move in. Elijah soon felt the bottom of his feet meet with the bottom of the pool.
"... Thankyouforthat..." Elijah mumbled the words together, neck also burning at being treated like a little child.
"Huh? Didn't quite catch that." Alexander grinned, leaning down towards the younger boy. Clenching his jaw, Elijah tightened his arms around Alexander's neck, wanting to throttle the smugness and confidence out of the man. Oh right- he still had his arms around him.
"I said get off me!" Elijah grunted, unwrapping himself from him and pushing at Alexander's chest, Elijah himself being pushed away. Alexander didn't budge.
Alexander raised his eyebrows, exhaling a scoff in disbelief. "Sweetheart I know your hair is wet and it's covering your eyes," He saunted over to Elijah and placed a single finger on his forehead, moving his wet curls to the side, "however I'm sure you could feel that you were the one clinging onto me for dear life."
Embarrassed, Elijah flung his right arm up with a pout, splashing Alexander's chest with sprinkles of water and stood still with his arms crossed. He had to wait till someone swam between his legs to free him.
With a wink to Elijah, Alexander looked to Ray whose lips twitched upwards in amusement. "Right! Who's next?"
Aiden was not so far from Alexander and was standing with the water at his waist in the shallow end, watching everything with an entertained smile identical to Ray's. He caught Alexander watching him from the corner of his eyes and unfolded his arms, facing his body towards the man.
Alexander tilted his head sharply to the side with squinted eyes and a smile, debating whether to go for Aiden: Out of him, Aiden and Ray, Aiden was the fastest swimmer. And based on the other's reactions to Alexander swimming, he was guessing Aiden was the most agile one out of them all.
"Damn." He mumbled under his breath. Alexander was still near Elijah and his two friends were not approaching him to free him, knowing that Alexander would catch them easily. Pretending to look the other way, he suddenly snapped to his right, arm swiftly shooting forward towards Aiden.
However the other bolted away at the speed of lightning, as if moving in water was as easy as running on land. Aiden planted his feet onto the walls of the swimming pool and rebounded off, dodging Alexander's second attempt to grab him. Aiden front stroked to the deep end, where Noah had relocated, with rapid speed and reached the end of the 40ft swimming pool within 27 seconds.
Upon reaching the end, he happened to stop right next to Noah who was staring at him, stunned.
"Hey Noah. How you keeping up?" Aiden asked, wiping his face and teasingly smiling at the other boy, "Doing good?"
Noah's heart was starting to pick up its pace, fingertips gripping the edge of the pool even harder. The deep end was roughly 8 feet, the swirling darkness of the bottom matching Noah's lower stomach.
"How- How do you guys swim that fast?!" Noah gasped, turning his head at the sound of a high pitched scream from Priyanka. Alexander was beneath the water and had burst up beside her, nearly grabbing her shoulders. But Priyanka dodged him fairly quickly and was able to swim between Elijah's legs. He gave up on trying to catch Aiden and had went to catch others instead.
Aiden laughed out his nose, the corners of his lips stretching into a smile, "Noah... we have two swimming pools in our home. So we swam together almost every day in summer."
Everyday?! No wonder Ray's stamina is so good...
Noah turned to Aiden who was about to take off to a more shallow part of the pool, "Aiden! I-Is Ray as fast as... that?"
Aiden looked at Noah's worried face and looked to Ray, contemplating whether he should tell the terrified boy the truth or scare him even more.
Aiden turned back to Noah and clamped a wet hand on his shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile, "He's faster than me. Beat me in the race by 5 seconds."
Noah's expression dropped and his doe-like eyes widened, mouth melting to a helpless frown. Immediately feeling bad, Aiden sucked in his lips and considered his words whilst falling for the puppy-like face. "Actually I was kidding. But... if it gives you any hope, Ray's slower than me."
Noah gave an exasperated sigh, knowing that meant that Ray was indeed fast. A sudden idea popped into his mind and a simmer of hope made his eyes lighten up and grab Aiden's upper arm.
He turned back around, looking at Noah with questioning eyes. "Aiden!"
"Noah!" He laughed, mimicking Noah with friendliness. Noah smiled with his teeth and said his plan, "So basically, I have an idea. Well- more like a favour."
Facing him fully whilst kicking gently to stay afloat, Aiden cocked his head to one side, genuinely curious, "Alright. What's the favour."
Noah eyed Alexander out from the corner of his eye and explained quickly as he watched Priyanka get caught by Alexander. "So- okay can you help me swim? I know it sounds funny-" Noah hurriedly continued at the look on Aiden's face, "I know how to swim but could you... help me swim away? Like what Mr Jones did to Eli."
"Mr Jones? Who's- oh, Alexander." Aiden's scrunched up expression of confusion eased into one of understanding and he made a soft 'ah'. But then shook his head and gave Noah a pitiful smile. "I dont think Ray would take kindly to me helping you escape him."
God damn it. Noah looked down at his feet through the water sheepishly and mumbled, "Why would he care..."
As he lifted his head to look at Aiden, the other nodded his chin to the dark, blood-red mark on his neck and said simply, "You're his."
The older boy coughed, startled at the two very innocent words that when put together sounded not so child-friendly.
How did he say that so casually?! Noah's blush flared up, travelling to his ears and neck. He stuck out his leg and kicked Aiden on the shin watching as Aiden stammered in surprise then drifting off to a soft laugh as if it didn't hurt him.
Most likely didn't.
Noah's eyes locked with Ray's from across the pool and something in his stomach flipped. Ray was looking at him as if he were... food.
He had a predacious gleam in his eyes and he slowly traced his tounge over his top lip, then across his canines.
And it had an affect on Noah, making him feel like prey. He suddenly became desperate and turned to Aiden.
"Aidennn I'm not-"
Aiden cut of his whine, drawing away from Noah and looking to the side. He rushed his speech, pushing at Noah's arm, "If I notice you struggling I'll help. I promise. But right now it looks like Alexander's aiming to catch you. And if you get caught, most likely Ray's gonna want to... ahem, go between your legs."
And sure enough, when Noah looked towards where Aiden was looking, there was Alexander eyeing the two, slowly walking towards them in the shallow end. Aiden swivelled back to Noah and grinned, pushing more harder at his arm, "Run! I mean- Swim! Go! Before Alexander catches you!"
Fight or flight mode activated in Noah's mind as soon as he saw Alexander dive underneath the water. His limbs began to work and he kicked away from his position, watching Aiden swim further away.
The water rippled and huge splashes broke the surface as Noah swam with all the speed he could muster.
To be fair, Noah wasn't slow at swimming. He just wasn't fast compared to these three. Elijah, Priyanka and Noah had raced before in a leisure centre swimming pool, with Noah winning twice, Elijah winning once and Priyanka winning once.
Compared to on land, Noah was better in water. On land, Elijah had always won the races, with Noah usually coming last: Noah wasn't athletic at all.
Both his friends were to a certain extent, athletic.
Priyanka had taken taekwondo and boxing, making her agility and stamina excellent. And to keep her abilities, her and Elijah worked out together time to time. They always offered Noah to join but usually got declined and watched as Noah sat on the side, watching them work out usually with a book or his phone in hand.
Noah had tried to work out. He had. But after a few sit ups he had become breathless, after 5 press ups his arms were shaking. With running laps, Noah let himself drop onto Elijah after running only for about four minutes.
Elijah most likely got his atheleticness from dodging sandals and fighting with his sister. With light work outs done.
Noah? He took his siblings to the park and swimming pool sometimes, but that was it.
Don't look behind you, don't stop.
Aiden's words were echoing in Noah's mind: 'And if you get caught, most likely Ray's gonna want to... ahem, go between your legs'.
This sent a wave of adrenaline through him, and Noah was able to swim away from Alexander for a good few seconds before fingers wrapped around his ankle and pulled him back. His head dunked under water, just like how Elijah's had when he got his ankle pulled.
He pulled himself up, letting the held in breath go and staring at Alexander who was looking down at him with surprised approval. "Wow, you're better at swimming than I expected Noah."
Noah wiped the water off his eyes and looked up at Alexander with what he tried to make a threatening scowl, "Why are you so fast!"
It came out more like an accusation than a question. The 'threatening scowl' that Noah was putting on also looked adorably similar to a pout, with his eyebrows drawn together.
With a refrained laugh, Alexander turned his head to hide the smile and patted Noah's head, "Alright baby Simba, calm down. Oh look- I don't think you'll be stuck that long, Ray's going to see you soon."
Alexander took off towards Aiden who tried to free Priyanka, but backed off once he realised Alexander saw him. Everytime Alexander tried to grab him, Aiden had easily ducked under and curved away.
Giving up once again, Noah watched in his stationary place as Alexander slowly approached Ray from behind. Ray obviously knew and had moved to his left with ease, as soon as Alexander flung his hand out.
Whilst that was happening, Aiden had ducked infront of Elijah and swam between his legs. Once he was free, Elijah groaned and turned to Aiden who was laughing, "I can't keep freeing you mate!"
Elijah squinted his eyes and smiled, flinging water into Aiden's face, the other blocking it with his arms whilst laughing. "It's not my fault! That weirdo is so obsessed with catching me. He sees me move and he comes to me. The thing I do is pretend to stand still and be stuck," Elijah leaned towards Aiden and whispered, "But that fucker still taps me on the shoulder everytime he passes me- even when I am actually stuck!"
Aiden pressed his lips together, holding himself back from laughing at the boy. Elijah sighed, his hands on hips, "He's obsessed with me."
Aiden scooped water and splashed it at Elijah, laughing at his squeezed shut eyes. "Maybe he is!"
Before Elijah could drown him, Aiden swam away to free Priyanka, who no longer had Alexander near her. He heard Elijah's voice as he swam to Priyanka.
"Stop looking at me- I'm stuck! Im not lying I'm actually stuck- Don't come near me I'm- oh for fuck's sake..."
The corners of Noah's lips had unconsciously morphed into an amused smile. His eyes snapped to Ray who had spotted him and was now gradually swimming towards him.
"Nooo get him away..." Noah groaned quietly to himself, defenceless to Ray who was now a person length apart from him. Something told him to move. It was asking him why he was still in one place.
But as he went to move, Ray sprung forward, fingers lightly wrapping around Noah's throat. A small squeak left his mouth in shock, eyes staring dumbfoundedly into the other's blue ones. Noah didn't move a muscle, nor did he breathe as Ray pulled closer to him, noses now touching by their points.
"Play by the rules buttercup. Wait for someone to free you... or you're out." Ray sneered, rubbing his thumb on Noah's Adam apple before diving out of sight. Noah was still staring ahead, stunned in his place, with the ghost of Ray's fingers still lingering on his neck.
The feeling was... addictive.
Hands were on both his inner thighs, pulling Noah's legs further apart. He dropped his eyes alarmingly to see Ray swim between his legs, Ray's own legs disappearing behind Noah.
The same hands immediately gripped Noah's waist and Ray shot up from the water, waves and splashes crashing back down to even meters away, disrupting the calm ripples into vigorous swirls.
Ray licked the shell of Noah's ear, breathing heavily, "Hold your breath."
"Hu-?" Ray took a deep breath and went under the surface once again. But this time, the hands gripping his waist yanked him along. Noah squeezed his eyes shut as he felt himself get pulled into the water. No sound was present, only a low ringing noise and Noah's own heart thumping, his own blood flowing through his body.
The water blocked any noise, making Noah focus on the feeling of Ray's chest flushed against his back. His heart began to pound faster at a thought that randomly raced his mind.
Is he going to drown me? For what? Did I do something wrong?
The arms snaked around Noah's waist and teeth nibbled at his shoulder from behind, causing Noah to snap his eyes open despite the stinging of chlorine. He gripped the arms and attempted to tug himself out of the hold.
Everything was blurry: Noah only ever opened his eyes under water when he wore goggles. Despite that Noah was confined against Ray, everything was fine considering Noah could hold his breath under water for roughly one and a half minutes without struggling for breath.
He was spun around, Ray's face coming into clear view. The two were now chest to chest, staring at each other. Ray slowly tightened his grip on Noah, arms wrapped firmly around his waist. Holding them both up with one hand, Ray took his other hand and placed it on Noah's jaw, languidly stroking his cheek with his thumb.
Confusion filled Noah as he took in Ray's expression. He looked... sad. Ray, for the first time since they met, was treating Noah ever so gently. As if he were a fragile china glass plate that could be broken any moment.
Letting his other hand unwrap from Noah's waist, Ray lifted it to Noah's hairline, stringing his fingers through the stands of floating dark brown hair. The hand smoothened to the back, cradling Noah's neck gently and pulling him forward.
Noah accidentally let out a small amount of oxygen from shock as he felt a pair of lips plant itself on the top of his forehead.
What's going on? Why is he acting like this?
As soon as the lips left, Noah was embraced softly with his face in Ray's shoulder, preventing him from giving the chance of looking at Ray's face. Ray's light hold on Noah made the younger boy melt against him, slowly resting his cheek against Ray's shoulder as fingers drew small circles on Noah's lower back.
After a few seconds, Ray withdrew with furrowed eyebrows and he sighed, air bubbles leaving his nose and rising to the top.
No words were spoken, but Ray seemed to be saying a lot. Noah couldn't exactly put his finger on a full coherent sentence, however the emotions Ray was feeling and expressing was saying enough.
Ray's face wasn't his usual threatening, intimidating one. In fact this whole Ray was different. Quite contrary to that, his demeanor wasn't menacing and ominous, but was soft and tranquil, calming Noah's mind from moving away. He was seeing a completely different Ray than what Noah usually saw.
Maybe this was the real Ray? Behind that facade of a big bad intimidating wolf, maybe he was actually in need for some affection.
Noah slowly lifted a hand, going to place it on Ray's chin. But Ray removed his hands from Noah's face and grabbed his hips, tilting his head up and kicking his legs so the two rocketed up. As soon as their necks broke the surface, they immediately gasped for air, not realising how breathless they had become.
With one hand on Ray's shoulder to steady himself and one hand wiping the water from his face, Noah opened his eyes. The air hit him, making him blink once, twice, three times.
And it stung. Bad.
However he ignored it and looked into Ray's eyes, red surrounding his irises due to the chlorine. Noah had the same redness in his eye whites, but was questioning the other with squinted, softly arched eyebrows.
Both their gasps became less desperate as their lungs filled with fresh oxygen, reducing to small pants. Noah kept his hand on Ray's shoulder, and with his other hand, caressed Ray's chin almost instinctively.
"Are you okay?" Noah asked, concern lacing his voice. Ray's face was back to the emotionless stone-cold expression, with his blue eyes almost penetrating into your soul. Nothing like the Ray a few seconds ago beneath the water with Noah.
He was a completely different person.
Ray removed Noah's hand from his chin and held it, bringing the palm to his mouth and kissing it, all while staring straight into Noah's light brown eyes. His tongue prodded out to lick the middle of Noah's palm and he dragged the wet muscle all the way to the top of Noah's middle finger, before bringing his teeth down slightly just where his nail starts.
Noah's attempt to ignore that failed and he bit his bottom lip, staring down at Ray's pecs and watching as droplets slid down them, curving in and over dips of his abs and muscles.
"Ray, I asked-" The door to the swimming area banged open and loud yelling and giggling joined with Elijah's groaning.
"GIVE ME MY FUCKING PHONE BACK YOU LITTLE FUCK!" Noah jumped at the loud voice and he looked over Ray's shoulder to see Ryland, James, Alison and May. Ryland was chasing Alison into the area, anger twitching and wrinkling at every corner of his face.
"Ryland! Language infront of those two!" Priyanka scolded in shock, referring to May and Alison and getting out of her 'frozen' place to swim closer to the four.
"Right. Give me my fucking phone back, please." Ryland repeated, keeping his arm outstretched to his younger cousin who stopped a few meters away from him, grinning with his phone in her hand.
"Ryland!" Priyanka reprimanded again, shaking her head and glaring at Elijah who was smiling as if condoning the behaviour.
Alison sighed, rolling her eyes and pursing her lips, "Oh come on Ryland. I just want to take a picture with May."
Ryland growled, stomping towards her, "Use your own damn phone then!"
"I don't have it! Aiden took it!" She accused, pointing at her older brother who was now climbing out the pool.
Ryland looked to Aiden who nodded, "I confiscated it for a while. She was using it too much."
The irritated boy huffed and flung his arm towards Alison, "Now she's using mine! And she's going to throw it in the pool again. If you do Alison you're paying with your own pocket money for a-"
"No I'm not going to throw it in the pool!" She denied, giving Ryland a look of disbelief, "... I would, if there was no one here- but that's not the point!" She finished hurriedly, waving her hands at Ryland who advanced onto her.
"What did you say?!"
James stepped forward and fished his phone from his trouser's pocket. "You can use mine if you wa-"
"No don't give it to her. She'll throw it in the pool," Ryland snapped, making James stop in his movements with a meek 'okay'.
"I won't!"
"Then give me my phone! You even hid my laptop and earphones-!"
"Ryland, why is your background a picture of James-" Ryland had snatched his phone out of Alison's hand whilst she was distracted with the background photo and hit her upside the head with not much force.
"Gimme that- how do you know my password?!" Ryland rubbed his screen with his sleeve, glaring at his cousin who placed her hands on her hips. She sighed, flicking her curly light brown waves over her shoulder.
The corners of Elijah's lips twitched upwards and he turned to Priyanka, "She's getting her sassiness from you, isn't she?" Elijah sniggered as Priyanka rolled her eyes and flicked her wet hair out of her face; exactly how Alison had done it.
"She's getting it from Alexander." She replied, a ghost of a smile haunting her lips as she climbed out of the pool and went to Ryland.
Everyone else in this household, from Elijah's experience, was either rude and ill-mannered, had anger issues, or was simply arrogant and smug. Elijah scoffed at his thoughts.
Alison definitely got it from Pri.
"Making your password your birthday totally isn't the most obvious password ever." Alison smiled innocently, mischief twinkling in her hazel green eyes.
Ryland put his phone in his pocket and quirked an eyebrow at her, "You remember my birthday?"
She turned to him with squinted eyes and shook her head. "Of course I remember your birthday. I need to memorise your laptop password too you know."
Ryland's face returned to his glare. "Right I'm changing my passwords."
Alison smiled with cheek, "Yeah, to one two three four."
Ray and Noah had separated as soon as the four had entered, trying to keep the scene innocent to the newcomers despite their ages. Well, and to keep some decency for themselves.
Spots of gleams reflected off the water from the ceiling lights, the two blocking out the blaring noises caused by everyone else: Priyanka keeping a distance between a still furious Ryland, trying to calm him down, Aiden talking to Alison and pulling her away, James subtly admonishing May for playing along, and also stopping her from jumping into the pool.
Ray caught Noah staring at him and smirked, "Can't keep your eyes off me even infront of the children."
Noah ignored the faint feeling of a bluch crawling on his cheeks and replied with as much confidence, "Lots of people can't."
His own eyebrows shot up in surprise at his own words. Noah glanced at Ray's face and saw him raise a single eyebrow and smile. A real, genuine smile that was gone within seconds and was replaced with a sneer. He inched closer till Noah felt a finger trace itself on his thigh.
"These past few days... you've gotten a little bit brave, Noah."
His name being said in a husky, breathless tone caused Noah to snap his head to the side, checking if anyone was looking at them. His eyes landed on Ryland, and Noah realised how alike the two brothers looked.
The younger brother had dark brown hair, Ray had a dirty blonde. Ryland had icy light blue eyes, Ray had dark, ocean-like ones, resembling depth and darkness. However both had anger projecting inside of them.
"You and Ryland are very alike." Noah commented, watching as Ryland roared and released his anger, trying to get to Alison who must have said something provoking yet again.
Ray glanced at his brother and back at Noah. "... He's got our mother's eyes and father's hair. I've got our mother's hair and father's eyes." And as an afterthought he added, "Our father always has built up anger."
"And your mother?" Noah hesitantly asked, not prodding but simply curious. He didn't expect Ray to answer, rather expected him to turn away and get out the pool.
So it surprised him when Ray replied, "She was understanding. Calm. Always eased my father's anger. And mine." He clenched his jaw, staring to the side at nothing in particular. His tracing of Noah's thigh became aggressive scratching and his voice was now harsh.
Noah didn't utter a word and only let him speak, listening calmly. "... She helped so many fucking people, had many friends. She was loved and that fucker-"
Ray suddenly ceased his rant, realising he was slowly losing his cool and his voice was picking up volume. He looked down through the water at the spot of Noah's irritaed pink thigh and removed his hand as if he was electrically shocked.
There was no blood, however it stung just a little and Noah quickly shook his head, "It doesn't hurt."
A stressful sigh left Ray's mouth and he ran a hand through his dark wet hair, sighing again and grumbling, "Let's get out."
At Ray's roots, it was growing a beautiful shade of midnight black: so Noah guessed he had dyed his hair with blonde highlights to make it look a natural dirty blonde.
Noah looked at Ryland, and then at Ray, putting together ice blue eyes and dark raven hair in his mind to picture an elegant, gorgeously stunning woman with a graceful, goddess-like facial structure. He pictured her with high cheek bones and a strong jaw, like Ray's, and a small nose and full lips, like Ryland's. Among that, he then went ahead and imagined the woman wearing a gentle, almost soothing smile with a dimple on her right cheek. He had noticed Ray had one when he had smiled at Noah's slip of a compliment for a split second. It was a very visible dimple, a dent that was noticeable on his right cheek. That's why Noah had been able to see it before it disappeared as quickly as the smile had come.
Actually, the prominent dimple was on Noah's right side from his view. So it was actually on Ray's left cheek.
Noah held Ray's arm under water, stopping him from getting out and whispered gently, "Your mother must be a very beautiful woman." Personality and appearance.
His dark blue eyes peirced into Noah's, holding them their for a good five seconds, before turning his head back around and pulling himself up from the pool. "She was very beautiful. The most beautiful person I had ever seen."
'Was'?
The past tense words didn't go unnoticed by Noah, but he kept his thoughts to himself. It must be a very sensitive topic.
Ray kneeled onto one knee and extended a hand to Noah, who was still in the pool, "Come. You'll start to get wrinkly."
Sure enough, when Noah looked down at the tip of his fingers, they were beginning to wrinkle. He reached out, slipped his hand into Ray's and was hoisted up with effortlessness, now standing on the side of the swimming pool.
Argument and shouting was still heard as Noah watched Ray walk to his still complaining younger brother and take him by the back of his neck, stirring him away and saying something to him. Noah walked to his own younger siblings and decided that now would be a good time to act his role of an older brother.
He placed his hands on his hips and looked down at May who sheepishly looked away. "May-"
"Uh, Noah?" Noah turned to James who was glancing away and looking back at him between every second. "You uh, got something." James lifted his hand to motion to his own neck, at the beginning of his clavicle.
"Huh?" Noah's mind flamed with realisation and he slapped his hand onto the hickey. He had completely forgotten all about it. "J-James..."
James was definitely old enough to know what a hickey was. He wasn't stupid, nor was he going to act oblivious and pretend he didn't know what it was.
Noah cleared his throat and watched as May slipped away to Alison, clearly trying to avoid a scolding. And Noah let her get away this once, considering the situation. "Uh... James this... is..."
"I know what a hickey is. I'm not a kid, Noah." James deadpanned, staring at him, making his guilty older brother flare up with embarrassment. James clearly was looking for an explanation as to why a hickey was on his brother's collarbone.
"I'll... tell you later. Don't tell mum." Noah quickly added, shivering at the idea of Eveline finding out. He poked at James's shoulder and gestured to May, "Take May and Alison. Me and the others are gonna get out of these clothes."
James scratched the back of his neck, looking doubtful and scanned everyone in the area, "I don't know... that looked very fresh and... new. Very red-"
Stepping infront of James's line of sight and stopping him before he accused someone in the room of giving him the hickey, Noah stared at his younger brother with folded arms and raised his eyebrows. "James."
He seemed to get the message and without questioning his brother's elder brotherly authority, went to the two giggling young girls, guiding them out the room with the help of Aiden and Alexander.
As soon as the door shut, silence spread through the room, the only sound being Elijah climbing out of the pool. A hand landed on Noah's shoulder and he smiled, closing his eyes.
"So."
Another hand, one which was more damp than the other, landed on hisother shoulder.
"Tell us what's going on."
Noah sighed, dropping his head and side glancing at his two friends.
"Let's uh... get out of these clothes first. We could catch a cold."
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I
mportant A/N:
I didnt think this story through properly (well I did think the story plot through) and definitely didn't except so many people to read it. 💀💀
For everything to be more flexible without any problems, I'm going to be changing everyone's age to two years older. Just so mainly everyone is of age and the storyline flows more 😭😭.
I should have done this before but I HONESTLY couldn't be asked. I know, lazy.
So ye that's all you need to know to not get confused in the later chapters. I'll also be going through the previous chapters and tweaking a few things (mainly any parts mentioning their ages).
I hope you all don't mind long chapters because... this was pretty long. Aaaaand yes that's all ♡.