krempuff | dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight [for Thomas]

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dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight [for Thomas]

The heat during the day was getting back up to a place that Krem remembered, that he had grown up in for nineteen years and that he was built for. The past nine years of his life had not erased his need and enjoyment of warm, lazy summer days and refreshing, cooler evenings.

Coordinating schedules with Thomas was, as always, a balancing act. But they managed. Even when they didn't get to see each other for a few days here or there, they sent each other texts, information about nothing at all, just their days so far. Krem texted him, especially, after he'd gotten all of his tattoos done weeks back; the black ink scattered on his skin was still healing, but it was getting close enough to that mark of readiness that Krem felt safe in venturing outside of his regular daily routine.

Today, Darrow had been hot. Krem had worked both jobs and gotten out of Bardolf's later in the evening, around the same time that Thomas normally got off work at Semele's. The evening was still balmy, almost exhaustive, but the ocean called to Krem. The pleasant memory of going out there with Thomas last summer, practicing swimming in private. Tonight, under a nearly full moon, seemed like a wonderful way to repeat the whole venture and put his mind outside of everything else that had been going on recently.

He texted Thomas as he was already on his way down to the boardwalk, contemplating if it would be better to go toward the lagoon that they'd gone to last year, or just swim out in the open. The beach would be nearly empty, since it was night and there didn't appear to be any parties or festivals going on (surprisingly). He decided to let Thomas decide, saying he would see him on the beach.

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Krem caught Thomas's curious glance, and he smiled about that as well. It was nice, just to be under that scrutiny for a moment. He laughed, softly--the night deserved quietness and softness right now--as Thomas shuffled in the water.

"I don't think the water's listened to your advice on how warm it ought to be," Krem said, voice soft and teasing. He curled his toes into the sand and let his feet and ankles adapt to the water. It didn't take long.

"I bet, by mid August, it will be quite pleasant. If the river that cuts through town were deeper out in the countryside, that'd be nice too, I think."

"I don't know if I'm willing to take off anything more when it's this chilly," Thomas said, kicking some water in Krem's direction. He smirked but hid it by looking at his feet and drawing a random pattern in the wet sand with his toe.

"Did someone draw all over you again?" he asked, letting the question slip out while he tried to adjust to the water's temperature. "Those weren't there the last time I saw you unless I am really shucking blind."

Krem gave Thomas a slightly teasing look, but didn't argue his decision to keep his clothes on. He kicked back gently, then stepped back from the surf for a moment so he could strip off his jeans as well. Now, all the tattoos were visible, including the ones on his legs.

"Someone draw on me," Krem muttered softly. He folded his jeans and stacked them on his shoes, then returned to the surf, going a little deeper this time. "Yes, I got more tattoos. Did I not--I swore I said I got them done, a couple weeks back? It was a few days after the Fourth."

"Oh, you might have but that's -- that's a lot of them," Thomas said, eyes widening. He pushed the sleeves up on his shirt and crouched down, dragging his fingers through the cool water.

"Don't those hurt when you get them?" Thomas asked him, stepping close to get a better look. "Did you get them all done at the same time?"

Krem waded out until the water lapped at the curve of his calves. He watched Thomas, and nodded quietly. It had been a lot. It had taken a long time, and it had hurt a lot to do it. But life was sort of like that.

"Some of them hurt more than others. The wrist ones--" Krem held up his hands, where he had a phrase ringing one wrist and an hourglass on the other; then he tapped the words, Horns Up, on his ribs, "--and this one, they were the worst. Thin skin, not much muscle. And yes. Took about fourteen hours, with breaks."

Thomas winced. For the longest time, he'd had a bar code on the back of his neck but he didn't know how it had gotten there. He couldn't remember getting it, only that it was there and then it was gone.

"Did something make you want to get them all at once?" Thomas asked, reaching for his wrist and sliding a finger along the words. "You had to be an overachiever and do them all at once and not in trips?"

Krem bent down for a moment, wetting his hands. When he was up again, Thomas was catching his wrist and touching the tattoo. It was light, but the sensation was real and visceral, tender in the way that fresh bruises sometimes could be. He enjoyed the feeling of Thomas's fingers on his wrist and he smiled.

"Mostly that, yes," Krem laughed. "I couldn't decide which was the most important to get first, because they all were? So...all at once."

"Overachiever," Thomas murmured playfully, dropping Krem's wrist and shaking his head. "You can cover your whole body or have you had enough?"

Thomas waded a little further into the water, letting the cuffed ends of his pants dip underneath the water. The chilliness wasn't so sharp anymore. It was actually comfortable.

Krem hummed, contemplatively. He stooped down into the surf again, this time lifting the salt water up to his face and hair. It was a shock, but a rather pleasant one now. It beat a laugh out of his chest.

"I don't know yet," he said honestly. "I've been thinking of most of these for months. Some of them are newer ideas than others. But most of them--at least since I got my crook and flail in November."

Krem smiled as he watched Thomas move about in the surf. He stood and crossed over to him, curling his arms around his waist.

"You trying to rub your new ink off on me, shank?" Thomas asked playfully. He touched a few more of the new marks, watching the ink disappear under his fingertips before reappearing when he pulled his hands away.

"They're nice," he said after a moment of exploration and examination. "Better than some of the other tattoos I've seen before. I like them. I doubt I'll ever get any but they look good on you."

Krem hummed, vague and noncommittal to the question, because it was rhetorical anyway. He smiled as Thomas traced his fingers over the tattoo, watched his face as he took them all in.

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything that you didn't think suited you," he agreed softly. "But I've found I like them, and--people leave marks. So I got marks that reminded me of people."

He smiled softly, lifting his left foot from the water, so the winged sandal rising up from his ankle and onto his calve was visible in the moonlight. "This one is you."

"You got one for me?" Thomas asked, the surprise reappearing on his face. He swallowed and looked down, blinking several times and trying to speak but coming up empty.

"That's..." He shook himself, trying to form words. He wasn't that bad a talker but he, apparently, was trying to change that right now. "When did you get that?"

"Same time as the others," Krem said. The sand shifted under his feet and he laughed, setting his foot down before he stumbled and knocked them both over. "Yours was the first of the images I got that day. It was--weekend after the Fourth? I had a fight with a doctor the day before. But I'd been planning for ages."

Krem was suddenly aware of how that might sound or look, still a bit raw from shifts with Adaline and Gannicus. So he smiled a little. "I would have gotten it even if we weren't--you mean a lot to me, Thomas. One of my beat friends here."

"That's..." Overwhelming if Thomas was honest. Not in a bad way, not in a way that made him want to run but so much bigger than anything anyone had ever done for him before. He blew out a breath and shook his head.

"You're ridiculous, shank," he said, sounding fond. "I don't even know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," Krem said. He knew it was an overly demonstrative thing to have done, to get all this ink and attach it to people. He knew it was probably a burden for some people, more than for others. Gannicus had taken it well. Thomas was a harder sell on symbols and affection.

Krem smiled, though, because it was not a rejection or an upset at the ink. He headed back up onto the sand and, out of the water, stripped off his shorts and sports bra. The spot they were at was hidden by the rocks they'd had to climb over, and Krem did want to swim, even if the water was cold.

He braced himself as he went back to the water, pausing at his knees briefly, and at his waist longer, before he dipped quickly under the water. When he resurfaced, he let out a shuddering breath. "Oh. Well. Not that I was tired, but I'm certainly not now."

"You are certainly not shy," Thomas said, watching with wide eyes and a laugh on his lips. He wasn't sure he was ready to just toss his clothes away but maybe in a few moments.

Instead, he waded a little deeper into the water, letting his jeans get wet and cling to his legs. He cupped his hands under the water and brought them up, splashing the cool water on his face.

"You're not going to get some cold sickness, right? What's it called? Frostbite or something?"

"What have I got to be shy with you, Thomas?" Krem asked, teasing and honest. They'd seen each other to skin enough times that this didn't seem strange, but he didn't push for the same sort of open nudity from Thomas.

Instead, he watched Thomas's slow progression in the water. In their little harbor, there were no breakers. Just gentle little rolling waves that were easy to bob up and down on. Krem laid back in the water, sighing at the combination of cool water and night breeze and warmth that lingered.

"I doubt it," Krem said. "But I'd definitely make you take care of me if my toes turned blue."

"Not a shucking chance, Fluffy!" Thomas said, snickering. "You're the one who took your clothes off and dove in so it's your fault. I'd make sure you didn't turn into an ice cube but you're on your own when it comes to thawing out."

It as a playful lie, something he hoped Krem would understand as being a fib because, if Krem did get sick, Thomas would do his level best to help out.

"Besides, I'm no med-jack. I wouldn't know what to do to help."

"Just going to leave me to suffer, wither away," Krem said, smiling broadly. He splashed a bit of water toward Thomas, but because he was floating on his back, it didn't get very far at all.

"Good thing I know all about warming up in the cold." This came out soft and sweet and wholly innocent, though the look on his face was far from it. "But I suppose I'd just have to warm myself up."

"I would do more harm than good," Thomas said, turning his head and catching the chilly water on his neck and shoulder. It wasn't all that cold anymore, thankfully.

He looked back at Krem and what he thought was innuendo. Thomas smirked and said, "You'd have to have a lot of blankets. That'd help, I bet. Blankets and coffee. See, I did help."

"You're practically a furnace, you'd thaw me out in no time at all," Krem protested teasingly. He straightened in the water, but realized he was deep enough now that his toes barely scraped the sand below him. That was fine. He tread water, smiling softly. And when Thomas smirked, that just made Krem smile more.

"So many blankets and coffee," Krem agreed. "And a warm bath. Possibly lounging in the sunlight like a cat."

"I'm a furnace?" Thomas asked, reaching to feel his own skin. The night was warm but standing in the cool water meant he didn't feel all too hot. Warm yes but he wasn't sweating or uncomfortable, something he was grateful for.

If it got too hot, he sometimes thought he was back home in the first stages of the sun about to explode and burn the entire world.

"I don't think I'm that warm," he decided. "No warmer than someone else my age."

"You are absolutely wonderfully warm," Krem confirmed. He watched Thomas check his skin, as if he expected to be able to tell his own temperature just like that.

It occurred to Krem, briefly, that Thomas had spent quite a lot of time around other boys his age and probably knew all about how warm they were just by proximity of bodies that happened in those situations. Krem, meanwhile, hadn't been around a teenager since he was one, except for Noah and Thomas.

Krem swam a little closer to Thomas, smiling at him. "I like the warm."

"I don't not all the time," Thomas said, staying still as Krem swam closer. He let his fingertips trail in the water, watched the surface ripple and churn before stilling.

"Reminds me of the Scorch," he confessed with a shrug. "Not as bad but sometimes it's hard to differentiate when it's flat and dry and hot. I prefer the cold. I prefer snow and air conditioning."

When Krem was close enough to put his feet on the sand and stand up properly, he did. He stretched his arms over his head and extended, letting his back pop and settle a little. It was a good feeling. The moon shone down around them, and that was a good feeling as well.

"Oh, air conditioning is one of my favorite modern things," Krem said with a laugh. "Even I can get a little overwhelmed by the heat sometime, and I grew up in weather warmer even than this. But the snow? No, no, much too cold for me. But that's when having someone near is very nice."

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