Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. Only in my dreams do Nuu and Schumie share them with me.

"There had better not be any fucking eels in this swimming hole or I'm siccing Charles on you."

Josh broke the surface of the water with a small gasp, big rough hands slicking his hair back and blowing drops from his nose. Shaking his head like a dog, the blonde jock kicked out, stroking over to the bank of the pond with smooth sure movements. The water didn't just part and flow for his sun bronzed body, it caressed along his pecs and biceps, snuggling up to him silkily and smoothing away reluctantly.

The shadows from the leaves and branches overhead dappled the grassy bank, creating diamond patterns of light that slid over Josh's bare neck and shoulders, golden highlights of muscle and tawny skin. Josh clung to an outcropping of rock, treading water and tilting his head back as he looked up at the broad beams and limbs of the oak tree. Metis stared unhappily back down at him, safely wedged between two branches and clinging to a third. Not even the yummy sight of his half naked boyfriend suspended in water, hair slicked back and eyelashes speckled with pond droplets could really distract May from the likely possibility of there being fucking eels in that gorgeous water.

Josh smiled innocently.

Metis scowled back.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you, I was underwater. What?"

May glared.

"I said that if you lied and I think you did, and there are eels in that water, I am breaking up with you and telling Charles you raped me."

Josh gave a little shudder, letting go of the rock and floating back a few feet, eyes wide with horror.

"Metis don't even joke about something like that!"

"Well I'm serious! I had a very traumatic experience with eels when I was younger, and they've given me the willies ever since."

Metis waited patiently for Josh to stop laughing.

"You know, I'm baring my soul for you here and you're laughing. Nice man, real nice." Metis folded his arms across his chest, dark brown Hollister sweatshirt pushed up to his elbows. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck, making those dark curls stick to his skin. He tried not to look at how inviting the water looked. Tried not to think about how cool it would feel on his skin. It sure looked cool and inviting on Josh's skin. In fact, it was inviting him to lift off every drop of moisture from the blonde's skin with his tongue, and then follow the lines of water down, down—

Metis swallowed. Alright. Not helping.

Josh paddled in slow lazy circles, eying the skinny knees and slender legs that dangled down from the tree branch, wondering if he dove down to the bottom of the pond and pushed off hard enough from the stones, if he could barracuda himself up out of the water and snatch the emo down into the water with him. He eyed those naked feet and decided against it. Yeah, maybe not… Metis had no compunction about kicking Josh in the face.

"Come on Metis, it's ninety-five frickin' degrees out and you're up a tree closer to the sun I might add, in a sweatshirt and shorts. Would you just put a little trust in your boyfriend, bare a little more than your soul, and get down here? The water's great."

"You swear there are no eels?" May whined, fidgeting with the hem of his sweatshirt. Josh put on his best aw-gee-shucks-all-American-boy-next-door expression. Metis narrowed his eyes. "That look is not helping your case."

Josh's eyes widened as he looked up and to the left of Metis' head.

"Metis, don't move okay? There's a snake right by your-"

-SPLASH-

Metis came up spluttering, clawing at the water, hair slicked over his eyes and blinding him. Spitting pond right and left, he floundered over to a calm floating Josh, practically climbing on his back.

"Snake? There was a fucking snake in that tree? See, this is why I don't do the outdoors Josh!" He muttered darkly against his boyfriend's ear, heavy wet sweatshirt arms wrapping around Josh's neck. "There're things that crawl and squish and… and… and…"

Metis lost his train of thought as he finally noticed the smirk on Josh's face. He stared at him for a good three minutes, before suddenly hoisting himself up on his shoulders, pressing down with all his weight and dunking the blonde beneath the water.

"You rat! There was no snake! You jerk! You puerile one-handed slack-jawed drooling meatslapper!"

Josh came up blowing water in an elegant stream from his mouth, grinning and hooking an arm around May's neck, dragging him to shallower water so neither of them could drown.

"Hey, it got you in didn't it? And look. No eels."

Metis craned his neck from side to side, checking out the water. That was true. No eels. He scowled nonetheless.

"You're an underhanded bloody woofter sod."

"That's it Metis. No more late night British telly for you."

"But their insults are GADS better'n ours."

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"…fine."

"Fine."

Metis pulled his soaked sweatshirt up over his head, tossing it with disgust over to the grassy bank. His bare chest gleamed pale in the shadows of the tree overhead, black hair only serving to enhance the whiteness of his skin. Leaning back on his elbows in the shallows, Metis tilted his head back into the water, closing his eyes. He didn't want to admit the water felt marvelous, small waves from when he had plummeted in from the tree overhead lapping at the base of his neck. The water surged against his shoulders as Josh shifted closer, gravel stirring beneath his knees as he knelt over Metis.

Metis cracked one eye open, water dripping down from Josh's wet hair and dotting his nose and cheeks. He scrunched up his face, putting up a hand into the shadow of Josh's head to shove him out of his sun, but Josh was leaning down, and May decided maybe having Josh in his sun wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Their lips met, and Josh slid his hands through shadow air into shadow hair. The sun spilled across his back, across their faces now pressed so close, and a small part of Metis' mind knew he would break out in a spontaneous combustion of freckles tomorrow, and the warm tint to Josh's back promised a mild sunburn.

Josh twisted his tongue in a neat little roll forward tuck back movement, and Metis stopped mentally counting the added brown dots that he would find on his shoulders. All he knew was the rough pads of his boyfriend's fingertips sliding along his scalp, cradling his head. The sun beat down on the two boys tangled in the shadows of the swimming hole, and their slow lazy kisses matched the heavy throbbing of heat that warmed their bodies, warmed the water, warmed the day.

There weren't enough days in the summer.