Aquatic AU

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Kids are pretty durable. They tend to bounce right back and Raleigh's no exception. He's bounding into the water like he didn't almost just die, splashing happily and calling for Chuck to hurry up and come play.

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Chuck dives in and he's no longer an ungainly brown blob, he's a sleek streak of chestnut and silver.

....still pretty blobby, considering his age, but swimming circles around the human.

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Blobby or not, Raleigh thinks it's the coolest thing ever, and splashes him the minute he reappears, laughing and ducking under -- not that he can get away from something so fast.

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He'll bump into the back of the human and swim away fast before it can grab at him again, a sort of game of tag that's deep in Chuck's favor.

Whenever it looks like the human's forgetting how far it should go, Chuck nudges him closer to shore again. He's not saving your life twice in one day, come on.

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He appreciates that. But it's hard to catch Chuck and tag him back, because he's so much faster and Raleigh ends up sitting on his ass in the shallows, panting.

"This isn't a fair game!"

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Chuck rolls onto the sand and lets his pelt loose around him.

He's been told again and again and again not to reveal himself to humans, but he needs to talk back to this one.

"It's not my fault you swim so slow!" he retorts, sitting up without a trace of modesty.

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Holy shit--

"Holy shit!"

He yelps, shouting the bad word and not giving one flying fuck about it.

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--And it may have not hit until after the human shrieks like that that showing him might have been a bad idea.

Chuck hunches, holding his pelt close (that at least is an easy thing to remember and obey, to never let anyone else touch it).

"Well you do," he mutters.

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He's totally gaping.

Then grinning brilliantly.

"That's so cool! How'd you do that?!"

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Oh.

Chuck smiles a little cautiously.

"I dunno, I just do."

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"Really?"

Raleigh's beaming from ear to ear.

"Do it again! Can you do it again?"

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"You have to promise not to tell anyone."

That's important. If Chuck can't follow it for one human, the human has to promise to follow it.

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"I promise." He holds his hand up.

"Scouts honor."

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"...I don't know what that means but if you tell anyone I'll make you sorry." Chuck scowls.

...and wraps the pelt around himself again and then there's an adolescent seal splashing around happily.

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"It means I wont," he says helpfully before Chuck does it -- and when he does, Raleigh is utterly gleeful, clapping his hands together and laughing.

How. Cool.

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Chuck might lift his head a little higher and flap his tail a little more than he would--it is cool, isn't it?

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It's incredibly cool, and he's cute as hell, too.

"Come back, lemme see your face again!"

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He splashes around a little before he pulls his pelt off; no human's gonna tell him what to do, nope.

"What's your name?"

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He beams.

"Raleigh. What's yours?"

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"Chuck. I'm Chuck." Chuck digs his heels into the sand and looks at the human--Raleigh.

"Why'd you come out here?"

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"Chuck. Okay."

He shrugs and looks up, scratching his head, all awkward legs and knobby knees.

"Wanted a swim."

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Chuck's not good at judging ages but he thinks this kid's a little older than him so he sits up straighter to try and look taller; as impressive.

"Humans aren't supposed to go there," he says simply. " 's dangerous."

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Raleigh grins, it's a little crooked. He shrugs.

"Yeah. I've noticed."

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"You shouldn't come back here."

Though Chuck's sort of shrugging only one shoulder. He wants to keep playing, wants Raleigh to come back.

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He wrinkles his nose. You're the only friend he's made, Chuck. Yancy is older and therefore Raleigh isn't cool and Jaz is a GIRL.

"But I wanna play..."