Pay Attention! (Oriel, Wren)

[Deleted]

"Practice," Phen agreed with a nod, giving Wren a friendly smile, one of the biggest ones he had mustered directly towards the other boy so far. Not that he didn't like Wren - because he, surprisingly, found that he did, even knowing him for such a short period of time - but Oriel was so possessive and Phen so obsessive when he was near that he could hardly look at anyone else.

When Oriel returned and started his little tirade, Phen hid his chuckles by making soft "shhh"s, rubbing his palm against his broad chest. "I don't think he cheated, sweetheart," he replied as kindly as possible, putting an emphasis on sweetheart. "I think he's just been doin' this for longer. You're amazin' too, though. I hope I can swim like that someday."

He shot Wren another apologetic look from inside Oriel's embrace, then turned back to his lover and gave his neck a small nuzzle and nip. All this show of masculinity was making the skinny boy pine for even more attention, but he allowed Oriel to go and do... Whatever. "Have fun!" he chirped afterwards, despite Oriel's grumbling mood. With his towel wrapped around him, he prepared to follow his lover over to the diving boards to watch when Wren spoke in his direction.

"Just... Humor him," he breathed quiet enough so Oriel wouldn't hear. He let out a giggle at the question. "Uh, yeah... Don't mind him. He's really... Sweet... Once you get t'know him." .... For some people. Namely himself. But whatever.

He trailed after the two boys with soft, slightly damp footsteps, gawking up as Oriel climbed the giant ladder. "It's so high," he breathed, and his heart suddenly jumped in fear for his boy's safety. "Don't hurt yourself, Oriel!" Phen shot a worried look at Wren. "Could he hurt himself?" Knowing the stubborn boy, he was probably too far into his own head, wanting to prove his worth, that he wasn't considering his own safety.

[Deleted]

Oriel could not believe just how incredibly arrogant and smug this two-face little goody-goody was, smirking and snickering behind Oriel's back when he was the one who cheated(he must have because there was no way that Oriel could lose!), making fun of him in front of his Squishy and making him loose face event to the point where Phoenix himself was patronizing him(he wasn't), rolling his eyes and looking down on him, falsely impressed like he thought that was going to work. Nope, this was a matter of pride, a battle between men(because apparently Phoenix had turned into a girl), a destiny that must be fulfilled, and also just the stubborn antics of a boy who didn't want to admit he lost.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

And these were the irrational rantings of a child and a sore loser. Grace? What's that?

As such, Oriel was not giving anything Wren said a lick of credence and ignored his questions and protests and arguments, all of them every single one.

Oriel reached the top of the diving platform and peered over it to the water below. Wow, this was really high. Not that he hadn't been jumping from things and climbing things and etc etc since he was a kid, but this was probably the highest he'd ever tried jumping from. It was a little intimidating….or not, nope! Oriel wasn't intimidated at all!

He looked over the side to Phoenix calling to him and waved like a kid going "momma! lookie what I can do!", then turned his attentions back to the platform. He could do this. No problem. He'd seen this shit on TV, didn't look that hard. Plus, he knew how to do flips and shit, what could possibly wrong?

Oriel took situated himself at the starting end of the platform, took a deep breath, and took a running start. One two three steps….on the fourth one he tripped over his own foot for some inexplicable reason(intimidation and hesitation, shh! don't tell!) and barely managed to push himself clear of the platform. But he'd missed his launch and was tumbling haphazardly through the air and downward. But! Like a cat twisting in the air to land on it's feet, Oriel twisted his spinning body and regained his center of gravity just as he hit the water, diving in hand-over-head first with a very sloppy splash.

Moments later, he surfaced and climbed out of the water from the side ladder. "Fuuuuuu…..ck," he hissed as the sting from hitting the water wrong prickled his head, shoulders and arms. Ok, maybe he shouldn't have done that. That was fucking scary and hurt on impact a lot more than he thought it would. He held it in, of course, and arched his head over to Wren with a fist shake. "Yeah! Beat that! Nyeeeeh!" He plopped down on a nearby bench.

[Wren O'Hara]

Somehow, the thought of Oriel being sweet unsettled Wren more than Oriel being… well, Oriel. He offered Phoenix a strained smile.

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said.

And so he found Oriel climbing up the diving tower rather like an orangutan on crack, muttering to himself the whole way and generally being very juvenile. It was hard for Wren to tolerate a sore loser, but there was something almost painfully desperate about the other boy’s display that made it more amusing than irksome. Still, he didn’t want to be the one responsible for fishing the other boy out of the water when he failed miserably at whatever it was he was planning to do.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Oriel,” Wren echoed Phoenix, his tone thick with warning. Of course, nobody was listening to him. He saw Oriel gear up for a run, and parted his lips slightly to perhaps tell Oriel that you didn’t run on stationary diving platforms, not unless you really knew what you were doing, but the words didn’t come fast enough.

It was over quickly; Wren winced at the large, uneven splash. He tried to see if he’d injured himself on the impact, but it was hard to tell – the other boy had emerged in much the same way he’d entered, flailing and defiant.

Wren sighed. Even after that, he was still feeling competitive?

Problems with a capital P.

“I don’t dive,” he said simply, refusing the other boy’s challenge. Anyway, it was true; he was too brawny to do all those pretty flips, and he was scared of heights.

He walked along the edge of the pool, back to where Phoenix sat, and grabbed his towel, cap, and goggles from the starting block.

“Keep practicing, though,” he called over his shoulder on his way to the locker room. He offered Phen a short wave. “Good job today.”

[Deleted]

Phen's eyes widened even more (if that was possible) as Wren repeated his words. If Oriel hurt himself over this silly masculinity contest, he was going to chastise him until he went deaf. "Idiot..." he whispered under his breath, watching nervously as Oriel prepared to dive. He waved back with less enthusiasm, worry clear on his features.

It started out fine.... Until Oriel tripped on a step, making Phen's heart stop in his chest as he let out a startled gasp, going to far as to actually dart over to the edge of the terrifyingly deep water as Oriel hit the surface with a sickening smack. "Oriel!" he exclaimed, though the boy didn't resurface until a few moments later. At least he had resurfaced at all, in Phoenix's eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked immediately, eyeing him all over as though he might have a dislocated shoulder or broken a limb. Oriel looked fine though, just... Well, his usual snarky self. Phoenix let out an exasperated huff as he jeered at Wren, looping a forearm around Oriel's hip with yet another apologetic look at his 'coach'. He said nothing at first to Wren turning down the challenge, instead settling next to his lover and giving Oriel occasional glances like he expected one of his arms to fall off or something.

"Thanks, Wren," he replied quietly with a small smile and wave. "It was fun." As soon as the other boy was out of eye- and ear-shot, he turned back to Oriel. "He's just scared t'take you on," he declared lovingly, taking one of Oriel's wrists in his hand and rubbing the area softly, much like Oriel had done to him earlier. "I can't believe you dove from that high up." He gave the boy an affectionate nuzzle.