[PRP] Beach Bums (Xavier/Helmut)

[kuropeco]

He wasn't quite certain where the marshmallow comment had come from, but he did like marshmallows, and this was Helmut, so really, there didn't need to be a good explanation for it at all, he just sort of accepted it.

He also accepted Helmut's tumble to the side as she resembled a boneless puppy that also whined and poked and prodded until its owner did something that it wanted.

With a small sigh, Xavier tugged at his coat until it finally fell free from around his shoulders. He was dark skinned, but there were several obvious bruises and scrapes around his torso, a few long, claw-shaped marks near one of his hips. The swimsuit he'd chosen was simple and long, to cover as much as possible, and Xavier huddled on the blanket as he drew his legs up against his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"Remember," he said, his face crimson, "You promised you wouldn't laugh."

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Helmut was too busy huffing and ignoring him to hear the initial ruffles of cloth, but eventually the movement caught her attention and she at least had the decency to roll onto her stomach to watch him undress without a single ounce of shame. In fact, she held her chin in both hands as she watched him, kicking her feet in the air behind her.

But as she saw the bruises and healing wounds on his body, she frowned. Her ears drooped as she saw the wounds she had known were there for the first time.

"Not gonna laugh!" She insisted, puffing out her cheeks before releasing the air in an unhappy chitter, crawling carefully towards him to press a grey cheek against one of the healing scrapes with surprising care. It was her own brief little way of apologizing for his injuries, though they hadn't been her fault in the slightest, and because it was so important to her she stayed there - and very still - for a moment or two.

Then, suddenly:

"SWIMMING!" She cried, practically throwing herself away from him to roll in the sand like a little log towards the beach. Another little tumble and then she managed to get to her feet to take the last few steps to the beach, stopping so her toes barely touched the clear line between the wet and dry sand.

Suddenly, somehow, she was hesitant with her latest obsession.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

On Xavier's back there were two large black spots right around where his shoulder blades were; the places where his wings came through, when he was unable to control them. He was very self-conscious of these marks, and especially the marks that had occurred while he'd been held in captivity. Those ones in particular made him slightly sick to see.

He held his breath a little as she crawled towards him, but then Xavier's shoulders relaxed a little at the gentle touch, and he put a clawed hand on her head, sighing. There was nothing they could do about them now, but at least they were starting to heal.

"Helmut - " he started to say, but then she was off and rolling towards the beach and he gave a little laugh, shaking his head. Pushing himself to his feet, Xavier ambled along the sand toward where Helmut now stood at the edge of the water, and for several seconds he stood beside her, just staring out at the vast ocean.

"It's...very nice," he said, with a sideways glance at Helmut. "Ah..."

And then, as though he'd been waiting to do something ridiculous, Xavier looped an arm around Helmut's waist, picked her up, and charged down the beach with her in his arms, splashing into the icy water with a shriek and a laugh.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Helmut was too busy doing a tiny little dance at the threshold of the wet sand to psych herself up about it. It was new, it was exciting, but it was also terrifying and unknown and all the sorts of things she wasn't quite sure about. Though, oddly enough, it seemed that Xavier had no such reservations, and for the first time, their roles drastically reversed.

"Wha---?!" Suddenly, Helmut was in the air and in Xavier's arms, and even faster than that was the water splashing up onto them. She gave a shriek of her own, a delighted and startled sound all in one, and threw her arms around his neck to try and keep herself out of the water for as long as she could.

"XAVIER!" She continued her delightfully startled shrieking, but at least now she started laughing too, still trying to climb to his shoulders in favour of touching - or worse, submerging - herself in the water.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

He was nervous about the water, which was why he'd decided to just plunge first into it head on and get the whole thing over with so they could just enjoy themselves. Carting Helmut along with him was just a bonus, and so was hearing her shriek and laugh in surprise.

She was all thin arms and legs. Xavier attempted to pry her off of him.

"In you go!" he said, and toppled them both sideways with a loud splash.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

"NOOOOOOOO XAV---" Her shrill shriek of his name was cut off in a gurgle of water and bubbles as she hit the water, forcefully dragged into the chilly depths by the much taller, suddenly crazier demon. The moment she hit the water, her already tight grip turned near lethal, and as she realized she couldn't breathe very well - actually, that it was a lot like trying to breathe in a bath tub full of water - she let go to flail her way back to the surface.

Admittedly it didn't take long, but just long enough.

Still, she broke the surface sputtering, and laughing, and trembling in excitement and fear all at once. A very hot (though quite chilled) mess, whose feet barely touched the ground.

"YOU'RE SO EVIL!" She shrieked out, still laughing hysterically, as she finally turned to see what had become of her evil friend...and, more importantly, how to pay him back for that.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

For a panicked moment, Xavier thought the worst - that he had killed Helmut, and he flailed around in the water, immediately letting go of her and rising to the surface with a gasp, his head breaking the surface. Several feathers now floated in the water around them, bobbing merrily on the glassy surface.

"H - Helmut?" Xavier squeaked - but then she had popped up next to him, and he nearly tipped over in relief and surprise, reaching out to grab her and squeeze her tightly.

"I am not evil," he protested, once he'd let go of her with a splash. "I am just having fun with you!"

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

"EVIL!" Helmut insisted, still laughing hysterically, and put up with the hug for all of two seconds before she started to squirm and push at him. Luckily he had let her go by then, and she flailed towards him in the water in a vague attempt to swim. "Fun but evil!" She insisted, loudly, and threw herself at him, her hands planting on his shoulders in an attempt to push him back under, though she knew there was no way she could hold him for long.

Payback was, as someone once told her, a b***h.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Xavier wailed, but it was mostly garbled as he disappeared beneath the surface of the water, popping back up a second later and flipping his head back and forth to get some of the water off of him.

He lifted a clawed hand and wiped at his face, and then said sternly, "You're asking for it now."

And then splashed her in the face.

[quoe="enoh love"]  

[Enoh Love]

Her attempt to drown him backfired as he broke the surface again, shaking his head that sent a lash of water her way. It was the only reason she let go of him and flopped backwards, flailing trying to put distance from herself and the overly wet feather-hair.

"BRING IT GRUMPY FEATH--" She cut herself off with a delighted shriek as he threw water at her, forcing her to bring up both hands to try and protect herself. She started to kick to put distance between them, and by a sheer luck, realize that if she kicked just right, she not only pushed herself further away but she actually sent a lot of water in his direction.

"Take that!!" She giggled out, breathlessly.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

It was the first time in a very long time that Xavier had just let go of everything - his own insecurities, his constant second-guessing of himself, the depression that seemed to cling to him like a cloud. He was letting go and just relaxing; and, more importantly, he was having fun with someone who cared for him as much as he cared for her.

It as a very liberating feeling.

Xavier let out a squawk as the water cascaded over him, sputtering and gasping and swiping water and feathers from his eyes as best he could. "Okay, but - " he started to say, and reached over, picked up Helmut, and literally tossed her several feet over in the water.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Helmut screamed again as he grabbed her, but instead of trying to get away from him she actually tried to get closerto him, in the strange hope that he wouldn't be able to do anything if she was practising her koala skills.

Unfortunately, that really only seemed to help him, and before she knew it she was in the air, limbs everywhere, and suddenly she was in the water with a loud splash. At some point under the water she had lost which way was up, but managed to gain the idea that if she held her breath and plugged her nose, no water got into her mouth. It hurt her chest, but at least she could use that, and the knowledge she gained about kicking and movement, to her advantage.

That was how she managed, somehow, to swim under the water towards him, just enough to grab onto his legs and pull.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

The splash was big enough, in spite of Helmut's small frame, to make Xavier stumble backwards as waves pelted towards him, one right after the other. He floundered a little, wheezing for breath as he batted at them, and then, just as he was about to take a step back, away from Helmut, something touched his leg.

Xavier had a split second though of regret for not seeing this sooner before he was yanked beneath the water with a splash, holding his breath just in time. Under the surface it was blurry, but he could see a flash of fluffy, ghostly white from Helmut's hair, and Xavier swam towards her, reaching and grabbing her around the waist and attempting to haul her back up again so that he could splash her more.

Being at the beach was a lot more fun than he'd thought it would be.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Helmut yelped underwater as Xavier caught her around the waist, which was unfortunate because it forced what little air she had left out into the water, leaving her with nothing but burning lungs. Thankfully they broke the surface before she could inhale too much water, but she still clung to him for a little longer, coughing and hacking up what little she had breathed in, and took a moment to make gasping inhales to try and get air again.

At least she had the decency to cough away from him this whole time.

"I'M OK!" She insisted loudly between wheezes, and set to prove it by slapping the water near him.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

Xavier most definitely appreciated the coughing away from his face.

"Are you really?" he asked her dubiously, but his answer was a face full of water, and he sputtered and coughed, dropping Helmut back into the water. He paddled away a few feet and then abruptly slid a little when he realized that the sand beneath his toes had started to slope downwards as the water got deeper.

"This is weird," Xavier said, peering downward and squinting as he tried to see beneath the surface without going too far.

enoh love