Author's Notes: … what?

Regulations of Bad Humor

Chapter Three

By Firefly-chan

"Yo, Tyson. Wake the hell up."

I cracked one eye open slowly, and was met with a bright ray of sunlight blinding my view. Groaning, I rolled over, grabbed my pillow from beneath me and yanking over my head. For a moment, I thought I was home free. But after a couple more seconds, I felt a hard tugging on my blankets and my pillow. Aw, come on, man. I just want to sleep. Sleep is good. Damn you for interrupting my sleep.

"You idiot," Rei's voice came from the right side of my bed. "You need to get up. You missed breakfast, you know."

"Goddamned shame," I snapped back, my face still buried in my mattress.

I heard him sigh at my sarcasm. "Seriously. You're going to get in trouble. We need to be out by the lake in five minutes for attendance, and then we get free swimming time. I know you like swimming, but in order to do that you need to get out of bed."

Ugh. I swear. It's either one thing or another that causes me problems. My choice to come to camp was a bad mistake indeed. No sleeping in. Crappy food. Asshole counselors. What in God's name was I thinking? Oh, yeah, SURE camp would be fun. Because, you know, I just love throwing up my food. And being an insomniac. Or being harassed by people who need some friggin' therapy.

I felt another tug at my blankets.

"Fine, fine!" I said huffily, pushing myself from the bed and swinging my legs over the side. "I'm getting up. Happy?"

"No, because you still have to get your swimsuit on and we need to get over to the—"

"Jesus, chill out," I cut him off sharply, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm getting dressed now."

It took me one minute to speed dress into my swim trunks and to pull on a tee-shirt. Grabbing my towel, I hooked my arm around Rei's shoulders, and much to his relief, left the cabin.

** * *

You know what sucks?

No, really. Do you know what sucks?

What sucks was the fact that it was probably about 10000 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and the lake water was about –10000 below. I sat on the dock, kicking the water beneath me with a bared foot, teeth chattering as I rubbed the warmth back into my arms. Rei, on the other hand, was treading water a couple feet in front of me, black hair plastered down to his forehead, and a visible smile stretching slowly across his face.

"You look like a drowned rat, you know," he mused loudly, tilting his head back a little.

"I'm n-not going in that w-water," I stuttered, pulling my foot back out of the water and folding my legs beneath me. "It's f-freezing. I'll get s-sick."

Rei rolled his eyes. "Tyson, you were only in it for about five seconds before you ran back out screaming like a girl. You haven't gotten used to it yet. Now stop being a baby and come on."

"Y-You'll see. You're g-going to get sick, and w-when you do, I'll be r-right there to r-rub it in."

He made a snorting noise, before splashing water at me and then diving out of sight. I grumbled beneath my breath, pulling my towel closer around me. What a bummer. Swimming in the lake was actually one of the few things I was looking foreword to while being at this camp, and then I find out that the water is like ice, even despite the temperature of the air around it. Whatever. I'll never understand damned physics and the laws of nature.

Surprisingly, a lot of people were out in the water. I frowned and trailed my fingers over the wet wood of the dock. Actually, I was the only person who wasn't in the water.

Huh. Imagine that.

I looked up sharply at the sound of loud laughter. Laughter that sounded suspiciously familiar. Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder, and at first, all I saw was trees and woodland and more woodland and more trees and—wait—what the hell? A beaver? I blinked, shook my head, opened my eyes. Eh. Beaver's gone. Must be my imagination. I continued to scan my surroundings, before finally seeing whose laughter I figured I had heard.

Oh goodie. Kai.

Okay, Tyson, screw your pride. Suck it up and just don't squeal like a chick when you jump into the water.

Dropping my towel, I stuck my feet back into the water, before slipping my whole body into it. I gasped at how cold it was, but managed to find a comfortable position behind one of the pillars on the dock. From there, I watched Kai's every move. Just because, you know, it was fun.

For around five minutes, Kai just kind of stood there, talking to some brunette counselor. He was laughing and smiling a lot, which was pretty damn unusual for him, if you ask me. All the time that I've seen him, he was usually scowling or smirking, so you assumed that he almost always had a stick up his ass or something. But, nope, here he was. Laughing and jesting away like he… like he had something to be happy about. Pfft.

Kai paused in his conversation and scanned the lake. I ducked down further beneath the water, flattening my palms against the pillar. After a second, he went back to talking. Huh. Maybe he has a sixth sense or something. Maybe he can secretly hear everything that I'm thinking about him. I doubt that, though. I think he's just a dumbass who think he looks cool by scanning the water looking for people who aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing 'cause it gives him power. Well… technically, he has power since he's a counselor and all. But I personally think he's full of it.

"Hey! Tyson! Look out!"

"Huh?" I looked up in time to see a bright red beach ball flying at me. It hit me right in the face, causing me to choke back a cry of surprise and sink beneath the water for a couple of seconds. Fighting my way back up to the surface, I threw the beach ball back to Rei, sputtering, "What the fuck are you psychos doing?!"

Rei shrugged, tucking the beach ball towards his chest and doggie-paddling back to the circle of people that had gathered towards the middle of the lake. Growling, I wiped the hair out of my face, before turning back towards the pillar and looking out at the lakeside again.

I blinked. Kai was gone. I craned my neck to see if he was anywhere around, before frowning. Nope. Nowhere. Weird. And he was just there a second ago.

"What are you doing, Kinomiya?" a voice questioned rather amusedly from behind me.

I squeaked, startled, splashing around in the water, before eventually managing to turn around and face the perpetrator. Kai was treading water only a couple feet from me, an eyebrow raising steadily. I frowned, sticking my tongue out at him, before backing further beneath the dock until my feet touched the sandy ground. He moved closer.

"Nothing. I just like it here, okay?" I snapped, annoyed at having my privacy invaded.

"You like being alone?" he asked, moving even closer until he was again only a couple feet from me.

"Maybe."

He paused, still looking at me. I backed away even further until my back was pressed up against the farthest pillar and the water was at my waist. Huffing, I folded my arms over my chest and looked away from me, staring fixedly at the water off to my side. I felt him move closer, felt the air around me suddenly grow warm with his and my body heat combined. I was about to tell him to fuck off when I felt warm, wet fingers grab my chin and turn my head so I met his gaze.

"You have a scar on your neck," he stated softly, eyes drifting down towards my throat before focusing back on my eyes again. "How'd you get that?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said, shifting my weight uncomfortably.

I felt the lightest touch on my neck, and for one horrifying second, I thought he was stroking my collarbone. But as soon as I had felt it, the touch was gone, and common sense told me that maybe I had imagined it. Kai kind of gave me this faint, crazy little smile, before releasing my chin, backing away out from under the dock, before climbing back up it and out of my sight.

I frowned, touching my neck briefly.

… Tch. Bastard. I still don't like him.

End chapter.

End Notes: Satisfied? O.o; Damnit. You better be.