Rising Waters: Boys will be ... boys.

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Kyle and Jay stacking sandbags, and talking about all the food they want to eat when they get done. And then idiotic teenage boy heroics when two workers fall in the water. Don't try this at home, Kyle deserves the lecture he ignores. And Jay flirts.

* May have not-work-safe content.



"Ah should write a song about this, yanno? But Ah don't wanna be like Alan Jackson. He's good, but he ain't that good. Sometimes Ah like 'em and sometimes Ah can't stand the guy. Don't know what it's about either. He just sometimes rubs me the wrong way and then Ah feel like Ah'm all off key for a week. Yanno what Ah'm sayin?" Jay asked conversationally, trying to keep the mood light and upbeat. It was hard to keep a pleasant tone when the rain consistently beat down his good natured laugh and pounded his mood into the depths of the water. Plus, his wings were soaked and it did nothing to keep him warm. "Ah should of taken that rain coat," he muttered to himself. Idiocy had him turn away the hand outs and half way through the day, he was wishing he hadn't refused thinking someone else might be in more need of it than him. "When Ah get home, Ah'm gonna have a cheese burger. A big, fat, greasy, cheeseburger that'll clog mah arteries."

Kyle brushed his wet hair out of his face for the billionth time that day, and nodded in agreement. It was wet to the point that shaking himself didn't work - it didn't get him any dryer, and everyone else was already soaked, so he didn't even have the bonus of getting someone else wet. Floods sucked. "Uh-HUH." He agreed again, as his stomach growled just to make it unanimous. "Sick of cold sammiches, sick of box food. Oh, oh, you know what I want? A bacon cheeseburger. With extra bacon, and extra cheese." He slicked his hair back again, hoping the water would keep it plastered to his head, and not to his face. "And extra burger."

"Ah just said that. You gotta think of your own greasy satisfaction. If ya could have anything else but a cheeseburger -cause Ah already called dibs on it- what would it be? Denny's? Yanno their portions are smaller now? They got all cheap on me. Ah got like, ten fries last time Ah ordered. Ah complained but they just shrugged at me." He glanced behind him to Kyle stacking the sandbags. A lopsided, dreamy smile crept slowly across his face as he admired how nice Kyle's hair looked in the rain. Especially the way he casually slicked it back, so carelessly...

"Fried chicken. And biscuits and gravy." Kyle said. "And I call dibs on a slice of hot apple pie. But not Denny's. Blah. Too much grease and they use way too goddamn much salt." He didn't mention that half their food gave him the mega-poots. "Or a steak sub. With extra onions." He bent to lift one of the sandbags they'd been stacking and dropped it into place. "And onion rings. I want onion rings."

"Fried chicken? What's the matter with you?" he gasped. "Why don't you eat me for breakfast if you're gonna go diving into chicken?" Jay stood upright and stretched his spine, hearing something pop. Shaking the wet feeling from his wings, he flapped them twice before giving himself a shake all over and salivated over the onion rings. He could almost taste them. "Yup, Ah reckon Ah'd fight you for those. Ah wouldn't win, but Ah'd damn near try." He purposely stretched his wing out again, getting in Kyle's way of moving sandbags. They needed a laugh or two. Five hours of this and his body was begging for another break.

"You could bean me over the head with a chair." Kyle suggested, remembering the fight they'd had years before. "That still works pretty well." His last few words were muffled by the faceful of soaked feathers, and he stepped back, hands pawing at his face to get the water off. "Dude. -Dude-. Was that necessary? First you're all like, no eat-y the chicken, then you're all putting your wings in my face. I'ma gonna have me some barbecue Jay wings if you're not careful." He threatened jokingly.

"What's that? Hungry? Here!' he shoved his wings more into Kyle's face and was about to give into a wrestling match with him when someone yelled out. It wasn't what they said as much as it was their tone and Jay stopped, turning around as those around them did to. "What's goin' on?" he asked Kyle, standing up on a sandbag for leverage.

Kyle already was up on the balls of his feet, and then almost immediately ducked under Jay's wing, taking huge bounding steps towards where the voices were yelling "Levy broke! Couple of guys in the water!" He called back, before shucking his coat and handing it to a shocked looking rescue worker. "Jay, cover me." He said, and then without a moment of pause, dove into the water, head appearing out of water a second later.

Jay was on his heels, wings out, adrenalin suddenly pumping. "Aw shit, Kyle!" he yelled, spreading his wings and took off the ground, following closely to the water, where he could grab Kyle if needed.

Even though he'd surfaced, and Kyle had every confidence in his swimming, the water was cold, and Kyle's arms and legs felt lead as he swam towards where he could hear some splashing and panicked gasping. It was hard to ignore, to make himself kick and raise his arms again and again - and while it got easier as his body acclimated to the drastic change in temperature and the weight of the water, it felt like an eternity before he got the few yards to where he could see a man's head break the water and then go back under.

Jay was not about to dive right in. Instead, he followed just overhead and gestured for Kyle to grab the guy, but then another one sprang out of the water and failed his arms. Jay turned that way, unable to cover Kyle anymore and leaned down, grabbing for the man's coat. He missed, lowering down until he was dangerously close to landing in the water. His hands fastened around fabric and he pulled, flapping hard. The tips of his wings brushed into the water and he panicked, flapping frantically until they were in the air.

Kyle only -just- registered that Jay had pulled someone out of the water as he got his shoulder under the flailing arm of the man he'd been swimming for. The added weight pushed him, and his rescuee under briefly, until Kyle's hard kicks brought them both to the surface, gasping for air. "Hold on. Kick -with- me." Kyle gasped out, already swimming for the shore as best he could, one arm over the man's chest. "I've got you. We're going to shore. Keep swimming. Hold on." He repeated, the words coming out in gasps as he swam.

He landed roughly on the ground and let others take care of the man before taking flight again. Immediately, he spotted Kyle and flew above them, just in case anything happened. "Ya'll right Kyle?" he called out.

"Fuck, no, I'm not allright!" Kyle yelled back, again the words coming out in short gasps, the last in a near choke as he kicked the last few feet to what could've been called a 'shore' if it hadn't been half trees and the other half debris and broken shrubs. His free arm shot out, and Kyle dug his claws all the way into one of the overhanging tree limbs, stopping himself and the man he was still tugging to shore from being pulled further along with the current. "Grab this guy, he's half passed out." He said, almost an order, if he hadn't looked like a half-drowned bobcat.

Landing on the tree in front of Kyle, Jay's wings folded back tightly to his body and he leaned forward, crouching down. He made a grab for the man and pulled. The guy was heavy as hell and Jay pulled harder. "Jesus," he cursed. Two more people came to Jay's side and together, they pulled the guy out. Two more people rushed over and the man was taken away while Jay leaned down and held a hand out for Kyle to pull him up.

The claws went in before Kyle grasped Jay's forearm, half hauling himself out of the water, and half being pulled. Before he could say much, he was practically beset upon by the other workers, with a blanket, and a cup of hot -something-, and at least one raincoated worker yelling in his ear about how stupid he was and how that wasn't how you rescued someone who was drowning.

To that, Kyle gave a raised middle finger, claws out, and shrugged and bent his face to the hot cup of whatever, not drinking it. It didn't smell like coffee, or hot chocolate, but for all he knew, it could've still been caffeinated. "You got the other guy, right?" He asked Jay, still ignoring the scolding.

"Hell yeah, Ah got 'em." Jay shrugged off the blanket that was attempted to put over him by a girl and he shook his head, passing up what smelled like hot chocolate. He was good and wet before Kyle went for a swim. Hell, he'd been wet since he got here. No point in trying to dry out now. Especially since he didn't need the blanket. It would only make him feel yuck.

"You've been workin' out," Jay said, brushing a wet hand under his nose while his eyes gave an apperciative glance over the curve of blue jeans suctioned to Kyle's ass. "

Despite the blanket, and the cup under his nose, that he was still not drinking from, and the soaked mass of his hair, Kyle barked out a laugh. "Yeah, I do that." he said dryly. "Cain ran all us trainees to hell and back, and like a year of four mile runs kinda gets to be a habit." And Clarice seemed to like it, and that was never a bad thing. He twitched, as thought he were going to shake himself dry and then relaxed, grumbling. "Man, there just is no way I'm gonna get dry any time this week."

Jay let out a low whistle of admiration. "Kyle," he started. "From where Ah'm standin', you don't need to get dry. Cause that-" he said, mocking a gesture of shaping Kyle's behind. "-- needs to look that way all the time."

Kyle shook his head, laughing. "Dude, you and Clarice can like it all you guys want, I am not walking around in wet jeans just so you can stare at my ass all day." He glanced at his jeans, and plucked at the soaked denim. "If I don't get some dry pants, this is gonna chafe -and- I'm gonna get a lecture for walking around in wet pants." On top of the lecture he was gonna get for dumbass heroics, but the dudes needed rescued and there was no -boat-.

"Okay well, you go along and get some new clothes or whatever ya need to do. Ah'm gonna go get some coffee, jump in the lake and dunk my head in a bucket of ice," Jay said as he turned, walking away. "Oh yeah," he looked over his shoulder. "If Ah ain't back in five minutes, than yanno what Ah'm doin'." He turned his body and gestured two strokes, smirking.

"Dude!" Kyle protested, clapping one hand to his face. "Tee Emm Eye. Way more info than I needed. -Way- more." And he was gonna end up telling Clarice this, because she'd think it was hilarious, and Kyle could just picture the expression on her face. At least Jay didn't have a camera.

The tiny click and 'bleep' of Jay's cell phone camera as Kyle trudged away was ignored. If he didn't acknowledge it, it didn't exist.