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The lake was a pretty nice place to hang out on any day, but on a hot day like this one?
Oh, yeah, it was perfect. Jack was resting on the sand with Ranboo, who was sitting under an umbrella. Jack was straight out in the sand, basking in the heat and the sunlight. Meanwhile, Wilbur and Niki were in the water, playing around and throwing shells to one another. Wilbur would then flounder over to the others, standing in ankle-deep water, and show the shells to Tommy. Tommy would dry them off, hand them to Tubbo, and Tubbo would then show them to Ranboo and Jack. Phil had stretched his wings out to their full length, letting Techno preen them while the young man was letting Charlie braid his hair.
Stumbling into the water, Tommy tackled Wilbur. The other man yelled and went down into the water. Meanwhile, Niki burst out laughing, hiding her face with the waves and a hand. Still, it didn’t do much. Wilbur and Tommy were wrestling in the water, throwing one another around and splashing at one another.
Eventually, though, Tommy made his way to drop down onto the sand by Tubbo and Ranboo. Wilbur sloshed back over to Niki. “You know, honestly, I have some questions.” He said, ducking down to wet his hair again and shaking himself like a dog after a moment.
Looking at him, she tipped her head to the side. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. So, I’m bisexual, you’re bisexual.” Kicking his legs back, he let himself float. The clouds blocked out a small amount of the sun, but he still wrinkled his nose anyways. Took a breath. “We both like guys and girls, what more does anyone else want?”
Humming, Niki tipped her head to the side as well. “Your wallet?” She suggested. Snorting, Wilbur accidentally dropped himself deeper into the water. Waves flooded up his nose and he gasped, snorting and shaking his head. Still, Niki laughed and shook her head. Around her, her hair floated about, scales glittering in the light. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Wilbur replied, dropping down under the water. Both of them followed. Immediately, Niki started responding easily in sign.
“Do you think that we need to find some more shells for Ranboo to look at? He seemed to enjoy them. Tubbo, too. They’ve been really busy with that apiary and Phil’s whole building thing. They need a break.”
Tipping his head to the side, Wilbur hummed. Little bubbles flew away from him. Quickly, he said, “B-R-B. Air.” Pushing off the lake floor, he surfaced, sucked in a breath, and then dropped down again. Sitting cross-legged on a sunken log, he watched as Niki swam around a bit and sifted through the gravel and sand to find some more shells. When she would find one, she’d settle it down on the log beside Wilbur’s leg. “That’s sweet of you.” He mused. Shrugging, she brushed some silt off a shell.
“Just make sure that they come back. I’d hate to accidentally kill anything when we don’t have to.” One of the shells was clearly inhabited. A little hermit crab poked its head out of the shell. Immediately, Niki began fawning over it, started talking to it in…Wilbur wasn’t sure what the name was. Merling, probably. Still, it was really sweet to watch. Mostly because…hello? Hermit crabs? They were adorable? Of course, the only time that Wilbur had ever held a hermit crab, he had…kind of thrown it. Yes, he still felt guilty. But essentially, he had been maybe three or four, someone had handed him a hermit crab, and it pinched his palm. So he’d squealed and flapped his hand around and accidentally threw it. And he still felt bad about it, roughly twenty years later.
“Of course.” Sniffing, Wilbur immediately realised his mistake as water rushed through his nose. Grabbing some of the shells, he checked for any inhabitants and anything living and then hurried up to the surface. Swimming over to the shore, coughing and spluttering and feeling like a bedraggled weasel, he called out, “Tommy!”
Tommy made his way over. Then, he dropped down in the sand in front of Wilbur, started carefully checking the shells. He passed a few scallop shells back, and a couple sand dollars, pointing out they were all alive. As for the uninhabited ones, he delicately dried them off with his shirt and set them in the sand beside him, out of the way of the waves.
“Are these for me to show Tubbo and Ranboo?”
“Jack, too.”
“Jack is snoring.” Tommy pointed out. Huffing out a laugh, Wilbur shook his head and then pushed himself up. “I’m not kidding. Oh my gosh, Wilbur. It’s horrible. He sounds like that one time when I caught pneumonia.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that.” Looking at Tommy doubtfully, Wilbur remarked, “You were pretty bad, Toms. Like…Tubbo couldn’t get any sleep, and they sleep like a rock .”
“They did before they had the whole…metamorphosis. Thing.” Tommy commented, gesturing with one hand. Sniffing, he rubbed at his nose. Then, he cleared his throat. “I’m going to show Tubbo and Ranboo these.” Nodding, Wilbur watched as he strode over to Tubbo and Ranboo and dropped down beside them, talking excitedly and showing off the shells. After a few moments, he returned with all the shells they’d fathered earlier. “Here. They want to make sure that nothing happens to the other shells.”
“Right. I’ll go see if Niki has more. Unless they’re taking a nap.” Gathering the shells that Tommy had dropped off, Wilbur turned and ducked under the water again. Swimming down to Niki, he found her still playing with the hermit crab. And several others as well. Some of them were playing around her, braiding her hair together, and Niki giggled lightly. Smiling, Wilbur sat down on the sunken log again.
Eventually, Phil crashed down into the water. Immediately, some of the nearby fish scattered. He grinned at Wilbur, waved in a friendly way. Several ravens shot into the water around him. A couple flapped their wings around, freaking out. Others were much more sensible and graceful swimming around like they were less birds and instead otters. Black feathers flashed in the sunshine streaming through the water.
One of them flew down to Wilbur. Since it was clearly freaking out, Wilbur carried it up to the surface, held it upright. Coughing, it shook the water from its wings, flapped around. Phil swam over. “Hey, Wilbur.” He said, carding a hand through his hair. Shaking out some of the water, he let the raven hop onto his arm and then his hair. Chirping back to it, he smiled and joked a few times. The other ravens were fluttering over. Most of them decided to swarm Phil’s arms. Kicking his legs, Phil laughed, “Okay, some of you need to get off. Seriously. Come on. Some of you shoo, I can’t swim.” The birds refused to move. Sighing, he shook his head. “Alright, fine.”
Then, he ducked under the water again.
Cawing, the ravens flew off. The one Wilbur had lifted up hopped onto his head. Meanwhile, Phil straightened right back up. Laughing, he shook his head. “Alright, buddy,” The bird cawed. Holding up his hands, Phil added, “no worries. Come here.” He ducked his head a bit. Then, the raven hopped over, pecked at Wilbur’s hair to preen it a bit, and then started preening Phil’s hair. Laughing, Phil met Wilbur’s gaze and smiled. “I love them all so much, but they’re so…weird.”
“Aren’t we all weird?” Wilbur asked, kicking back and then swimming to the shore again.
Yeah, it was a nice day.