modernmanpain | sand in uncomfortable places: the meme

[ robb answer with a groan, and a long, lazy stretch. he can hear a few bones in his spine crack, and really, does he have to get up? ]

One day lying on the beach won't make me fat.

[ but he's already sitting up, brushing the sand from her foot-nudge from his skin. ]

[ that won't do. that sand was a gift from the bottom of her...sole of her foot. ]

You're already getting a little round.

[ round 'bout the middle, certainly. which is accentuated by another prod of the foot, this time to his middle. ]

[ he'll send a thank you note.

robb grabs her ankle, gives a light tug as his thumb presses against the curve of bone. ]

You're overexaggerating.

[ another light tug, and then he lets go, gets to his feet. ]

Come on, if you want to swim so badly.

[ even asha, with her good sense if balance, staggers a little. keeping her feet is no problem, but she wobbles and raises an eyebrow at him challengingly. oh am I? or at least teasingly. ]

[ she waits until he is on his feet before turning toward the water. it's cold out there, might be sharks further out, filled with seaweed and rocky on the bottom, but it's beautiful. and had it not raised questions she might have taken him by the wrist and dragged him faster. ]

You come on.

[ but she'll have to settle for rebuffs and taking off with quick strides. ]

[ robb shouts when the water hits his skin, cursing at the temperature. it's most likely not cold, but he's overheated from hours in the sun.

and starks aren't swimmers. wolves weren't made for the sea. the only swimming robb had done was after he'd met theon, after theon had dragged him by the scruff of his neck into the water and taught him to swim. and now here was asha, doing the same. ]

It's freezing, Asha.

[ half-hearted complaint. he's aware he's not speaking to a sympathetic audience. ]

[ she snorted at his expense, not even trying to hide the languid eyeroll and bemused smirk. he can yell all he wants, but she's just continuing to wade deeper, and turning back now would just result in a barrage of never-ending teasing; she was not above that. ]

It is not.

[ the water was a little chilly. goosebumps rose all along her legs and the likelihood of feeling her toes diminished the longer they stayed in the water, but asha reveled in it; reveled in the scrape of rock against her feet and the swirl of the sand under the surface of the water; in the way little droplets clung to her leg or how it became increasinglydifficult to walk smoothly the further in she waded. ]

Just go for it right away. One quick dunk.

[ he screws up his face--overdramatic, theatrical in a way he so rarely is--before dropping beneath the next wave, shooting past her beneath the surface. and he stays there, submerged for a few moments, before popping back up a few feet in front of her, shaking his head, water everywhere, gasping deep breathes of air. ]

How far out are we swimming? The bouy and back?

[ he couldn't hope to race, not really. greyjoys and water, it's one of those visceral things that robb can't hope to match. he could try, but he'd be outstripped easily. asha and theon took so easily to the ocean and waves that it was almost enviable, if robb were the sort. ]

[ she nodded the faintest bit of approval as he took the plunge, and there was even a little hint of a smile on her features when he sprung up in a spray of salt droplets. easy and languid pulls of her arms and kicks of her legs brought her to about a foot in front of him, spitting water between the two of them and blinking in the glare of the sun off the water. ]

If you can only go that far.

[ which was as a goods a yes. a yes with a healthy side of teasing and that greyjoy half smirk to accompany that greyjoy floating ability. no, starks were made for ice hockey apparently, and it should at least make him prideful to know she couldn't compete with that. everyone had their own area of excellence; they just happened to be in hers. ]

I'll give you something if you beat me.

[ there's a cautious pause. oh, asha might give him something, but there's never any telling just what that something might be. or whether or not it would be a good thing. there's a moment of robb simply treading water, watching her face, before he answers. ]

And just what will you give me, when I beat you?

[ overconfident, challenging, his tone is both of those things and more. there is salt water dripping down his face, and he feels ridiculous, half-drowned and outmatched, but none of that will ever be allowed to show on his face. ]

I don't know.

[ so much smirking on this end. asha bobbed, a small wave carrying her and sloshing a little bit of water into her face. she spat, blinking and relishing in the slight sting of salt in her eyes. eventually she invaded that foot of space between them. ]

I haven't thought that far ahead.

[ which really meant I don't think you'll beat me. ]

[ and robb knows her well enough to know what that means, that little smirk and the turn of phrase. it sparks his competitive streak, even if he knows he'd need some sort of magnificent stroke of luck to beat her. ]

You'd best think of something fast. I'm about to beat you.

[ because saying it can't hurt, can it? ]

[ there it was - that's what she liked to see. it would have been awfully boring to race an under-encouraged participant, and now things were about to get interesting. ]

I'll think while we swim. Are you ready?

Whenever you are.

[ the statement is punctuated with a flick of water, splashed at her face. game face, stark. game face. ]

[ oh it's on now, boy. no ready-set-go or anything here, just a snort and - bam, she's swerved and dove sideways into the water. her arms fell into ready loops and her feet kicked swiftly under the choppy surface without much of a splash. ]

[ game on. hold your game face. ]

[ well shit.

he's no marathon swimmer, but he manages decent form, when he puts his mind to it. he thinks of what theon had told him once, how he'd showed him to align his body and cut through the water. it's rough and clumsy, but he manages to keep up.

with a little luck, who knows. maybe his outstretched hand would be the first to smack the bouy. ]

[ well, hello third surprise from robb stark. though this one is enjoyable because it poses a bit more of a challenge; she would have given a bark of laughter and maybe even smacked him on the back, but now is not the time for that - now is the time to redouble her efforts. ]

[ or... to not. ]

[ if asked, she'd say it was because she was too busy laughing and that laughing underwater was hard. but sudden giggle fit or otherwise, he certainly reached it bouy first. ]

[ robb shoots out of the water with a loud cry, something that must carry to the beach, but he's not concerned with that just now. he half climbs up the bouy, dangling off the side with a grin. there's salt in his mouth, stinging his eyes, sticking to his skin, but he doesn't care. ]

What've I won, Asha Greyjoy?

[ those rare moments when he bests her, it's something to be celebrated. this is her element, not his. for all his talk, he'd not expected to be the one who won this race. ]

[ she remains in the wet salt, spits a little and treads water to stay afloat. her eyebrows have arched upward in a mix of bemusement and appraisment, an expression that usually made other parties uncomfortable, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the way her hair stuck to her face and the lack of any real cold glint in her eyes. ]

I told you I hadn't thought that far ahead.

[ there's an edge of condescending in her smirk, however. It remains there to say 'I may have only let you win - you'll never know', but it could be taken as a testament to her wounded pride. the world may never know. ]

What do you want, Robb Stark?

[ what do you want, robb stark?

it's not nearly such a simple question as it sounds, but robb's expression doesn't falter. he swings for a moment, bouy clanging with each shift of his weight, before he goes tumbling back into the sea with a splash. beneath the water it's all silence, and when he breaks the surface he paddles close to her, spluttering just a little as he blinks the salt from his eyes. ]

Nothing I could ask for in front of our families.

[ it was easier to frame like that, although belatedly he realized he could have worded it better. someday he'd be more careful with his words. ]

[ she licks her lips a time or two and can taste the sea upon them. the water stings in her eyes, she's not impervious to that, but it's an almost pleasant pain that reminds her of home. some girls cried into their pillows, some climbed down the rocky outcrop which their childhood home sat upon and swam in the turbulent waters below. salt waters, like this, though here she was not swimming alone. ]

[ that ever present, smug little grin doesn't flit from er features just yet, not as he approaches and blinks like a bedraggled child who just got dunked under water for the first time. the corners of her mouth twitches upward as he speaks, showing the faintest bit of teeth before she laughs at him. ]

[ laughs, bites back the retort of it being just your family, stark and glides a little closer until their legs strike each other in the effort to tread water and stay afloat. ]

Oh, really?

[ they were close now, and it's probably a good thing that they swam this far, so no one can see the specifics of the way she touches him; smoothly, gently, and slyly; asha runs a hand across his stomach and teases the line of his swim trunks. ]

And can your family see underwater?

[ and there was the price of his phrasing. there's the brush of knees, the slide of her fingers, and oh, this was going to be the hall closet all over again, only he was going to have to figure some way to stay above the water and maintain some sort of dignity. not that his dignity had impressed her at all. asha seemed to find him amusing no matter what he did with himself. ]

No. But they may think the pair of us staying out here so long strange.

[ there's a hitch in his voice, a catch that betrays his interest even when he keeps his face stern. when his finger hitches into the band of her swimsuit, it's to tug her gently alongside the bouy. not quite out of sight, but better concealed. as if that made any difference, when they were so far out.

wait, wait, is what he should say. wait until we've swum back. but like so much else that happens, her hand stays and his hand stays and he doesn't take his away. ]

Hmmmmm...

[ she's not suitably impressed with his dignity, morals, or proprieties; never really very impressed with anything save for, perhaps, a few moments in the hockey video and in admiring the broken-but-healed injuries that remained on his person, even after his retirement from the game. the subtle slip into her suit that results in hiding, sliding out of sight of the beach, and not in the rough brush of his fingers between her legs, asha even lets out a little scoff and a roll of her eyes. ]

[ needless to say, her own hands weren't so table, and while one went to his hip the one teasing around the line of his suit dipped lower and squeezed. ]

You could tell them you're gloating.

[ no one would have a problem believing that. ]

[ whatever indignant reply he was going to make is cut off by her hand. for a moment he forgets to tread water, sinks a bit and inhales a mouthful of salt. so much for the famed stark dignity. ]

You're going to drown me.

[ it's almost accusatory, but for the way his grip tightens, shifts until he can dip his fingers into her suit and touch her. it's retaliation, in a way. it's the wish to make her shatter and fall apart.

he doesn't consider that he knows how to touch her now. the guesswork has long since been taken out of this mess of an equation. robb knows how to circle his thumb, how to press just so and grin at her reaction. and perhaps it'll even their playing field, not that robb can really hope for that. he's so far out of his element, desperately trying to remember to tread water as she touches him through the fabric of his suit. ]

[ she grins with abandon then, legs working diligently to make up for the lack of her arms propelling herself continually upward as she reached for his face. ]

[ it wasn't a gentle grasp, thumb on one side and fingers aligning on the other side of his jaw to pull his mouth to hers - just to lick across his lips and taste... well, robb stark tasted of considerably more salt and sea than of himself, but it wasn't a bad mix. ]

Then you could tell them you're drowning. I'll even drag you back to sho -

[ she's cut off by an almost embarrassingly girlish sigh, a little moan that she would have muffled in the water had she thought of it. but no, her face is still within inches of his, and her breath ghosts against his salt slicked face. it's stupid and asha regrets the sound immediately; she tries to laugh it off, but it doesn't fullfil the gaping hole in her infallible persona. so she retaliates, with a particularly hard squeeze and fluid pumping of her hand. ]

[ they're going to know, comes the sudden, panicked thought. you're a shit liar and they're going to know...

and perhaps that train of thought would have gained better purchase if asha hadn't picked that particular moment to make that noise. but she does, and it's like a whipcrack. it wrenches his focus back towards her, because he doesn't think he's heard her ever make that noise before. it's more appealing than he'd ever though possible. ]

You--

[ it's most likely fortunate she retaliates and robb nearly chokes on his tongue. he suspects he's minutes away from saying something idiotic, so it's easier to concentrate on the slip-slide of her palm against him, and the dip and press of his fingers against her, into her. and on not forgetting to thread water. it would be mortifying if she really did have to rescuse him from drowning. ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject