[for joe]

[damnfinecup]

It wasn't a bad day to go to the beach. Not that there were often bad days to go to the beach on the island, if one didn't count the occasional hurricane or those times when dinosaurs walked the island. Even in the rain, Dale sometimes liked to walk along the sand and watch the clouds gather over the ocean. There was no rain today though, just a partly cloudy sky and a pleasant breeze.

Dale didn't do much in the way of food, deciding they would be better off raiding the nearby trees for something to eat, but he did wear the awful shorts, as promised, along with equally awful tank top and his too-large running shoes that he never could find the heart to part with, not with everything they'd been through together. And rather than heading west or south they went north, to a more distant and seldom-visited stretch of shoreline.

"So," he said, standing barefoot in the surf and looking out over the water. "You ready?"

Comments

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Joe thought about it for a moment and then smiled again and shrugged. "Maybe we should go for a swim," he suggested, only because he figured it would probably feel pretty damn good at the moment. Refreshing somehow, in a way it normally wasn't.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I'd hate to have worn these shorts for nothing, after all," said Dale and after only a moment of thought, a moment he wouldn't even have taken with anyone else, he stripped off his shirt and left in on the beach with his shoes.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

It was done without thinking, the sweep of Dale's body with his eyes, and then Joe looked away and moved closer to the beach to take off his own shirt. It was only there, standing in the water in his shorts that he noticed how thin he'd gotten and he made a disgruntled noise before walking back out into the water to join Dale.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Water feels a bit warmer up on this side of the island," said Dale, standing there calf-deep and staring out at it again. Sometimes he wondered if, aside from the island, there was water right to the ends of the earth. "Maybe it gets more sunshine."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Or maybe you're all warm and tingly with the knowledge of what I just did," Joe said dryly, wading out further until he was standing beside Dale again. "Maybe it had nothing to do with the sunshine at all."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Could be," said Dale, turning his head to give Joe a grin. "We need some kind of platform out there, that I could race you to. We used to have one at the lake we went to when I was a kid."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Fuck, you'd kick my ass at that," Joe replied, mirroring the grin as he looked over at Dale. "I'm in shit shape, man. Even moreso recently." He'd never been in great shape, though.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I am a strong swimmer," agreed Dale, without actually saying that yes, he would kick Joe's ass without even working up a sweat. "We clearly need to get some muscle on you."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Joe let out a soft snort of amusement at that, looking down at himself before he waded out further into the water. "Yeah, we clearly need to do that," he agreed dryly.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"You're the one who keeps telling me you're out of shape," Dale pointed out, diving right in to the water and emerging quite a few feet away. "You keep telling me that and I'm going to make sure you do something about it."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Joe was not looking at Dale, he was squinting out to the horizon, just walking further out into the water. "To me getting into shape means quitting booze and cigarettes and making sure my nose stops fucking bleeding, not muscles."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"It's all tied up in the same stuff, Joe," said Dale, moving through the water with a few lazy strokes, not really heading anywhere. "It's all about taking care of yourself."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"One step at a time, okay?" Joe asked and although he was smiling, he was serious. One step at a time. "Lemme quit smoking first and then we'll get me some muscle."

And then he ducked into the water, dunking his head and then popping back up, water dripping into his eyes.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I believe I just heard you say you're going to quit smoking," said Dale with a grin. "Both you mind and your body are going to be happy with you today. And a bit of a swim can't hurt things any either."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Can I make my mind and my body happy tomorrow?" he asked, thinking longingly of the one single cigarette he still had. "I only have one left anyway." And maybe he'd share it, although the only time he'd seen Dale spoke was one drag on Valentine's Day.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Enjoy your last smoke, Joe," said Dale easily. "One step at a time, like you said. Though I might make you eat your vegetables with dinner."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like a threat," Joe said dryly, cutting through the water with a few lazy strokes, feeling his feet leave the sand on the ocean floor. "You ever wonder what we're swimming around with out here? Fucking sharks and things with stingers?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Don't forget the giant squid," said Dale, flipping over onto his back. "It wasn't all that far from here that they first met it, I believe."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Looking around at the water surrounding them, Joe dryly said, "If I get eaten by something, just know you're the only man on the island for me, Dale."

And it only struck him after he said it that he probably shouldn't have. Not that it really fucking mattered now, it had been said.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale didn't flinch, not visibly, but the offhand remark still hit him in the gut. He didn't think Joe meant to be cruel, he just didn't think sometimes.

"You're not going to get eaten, Joe," was all he said before diving under the water again.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

And the worst part about making Dale feel like shit with saying something like that was that it wasn't a lie, but Joe knew he couldn't say that now, that at this point it was too... too something. He meant it, but it didn't count for much right now, so he just continued to swim for a little bit before flipping over onto his back to float.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Swimming's good for the lungs, too," said Dale finally, after the moment had time to pass, "and even if you're going to argue that you aren't worried about muscle, I think we both know that your lungs could use some work. Come on, follow me."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Such a pain in my ass," Joe grumbled, but he flipped over again and swam toward Dale in the water. He wasn't a terrible swimmer, he'd lived most of his life near one of the nicer beaches in Vancouver after all, but he wasn't nearly as strong a swimmer as Dale and he knew it.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale didn't try to race him, just set a comfortable -- fairly slow, for him -- pace parallel to the shore. Nothing Joe couldn't keep up with if he was making any effort at all.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"So we're just gonna swim around the island?" Joe asked dryly when he lifted his head out of the water, loud enough for Dale to hear, praying that he wasn't going to expect him to go on for too long like this.