kore_logs | Chilly Weather for a Swim

The docks under Maggies's feet were trembling. She grasped for something to hold onto, but the plank she was standing on separated from the one next to it just as she grabbed for a hold. She fell into the water with a loud yell.

Lydia had been too busy watching the build of the waves to be paying much attention to the girl a few docks over. She'd been sitting there trying to think of something, anything, that would get them out of danger. The sound of the tremor shook her out of her reverie.

Lydia had enough common sense to stand up from her makeshift crate-bench at the edge of the dock and head back towards solid ground as soon as she felt the vibrations of the wooden plans underfoot. She just wasn't fast enough.

Her head snapped up at the yell and she looked over just in time to see the girl fall. It's hard to stay calm when wooden supports weaken beneath the surface you're standing on and you feel it slant. Lydia stopped in her tracks, looking down at the quickly-forming crevice between her and dry land. There was only enough time to suck in a sharp breath as the edge of the dock collapsed into the water, taking Lydia along with it.

Kobra had been wandering around nearby. He'd seen Lydia heading over to the docks and he was definitely starting to get bored enough to see if she wanted to do something.

When the ground started to shake under his feet, he was suddenly alert. The fucking diner had fallen on that girl last time and Lydia was near those rickety fucking docks. He ran straight up the path to the docks, catching a glimpse of her as she hit the water. Fuck!

"Lyds!" He shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossing it on the ground, and ran to jump in after her.

By the time Lydia had fought her way back to the surface through the fallen dock, floating debris, and choppy water, she'd gained a few superficial cuts to her face and hands. Not priority. Breathing was priority and she was gasping as soon as her head was out of the water.

It was a struggle to stay above the slowly-growing waves, but she was still trying to look for that girl. She spotted Kobra first. A feeling of relief washed over her followed by a crippling fear for his safety due to his lack of self-preservation skills. Idiot.

She fought to take off the heavy, winter jacket she'd been wearing before she started to swim towards him.

The water was ice cold when Kobra hit it, but all he could think about was Lydia. He needed to make sure she was okay. He needed to... stop sinking. He was trying to swim, but it wasn't enough in the choppy water and as he struggled to stay up, he started to sink a little, taking a breath before he felt the water rise over his head.

Shit, it was fucking cold. He could feel his feet hitting rocks. He tried to kick off of them, but got his shoe caught instead. In the struggle, he could feel rocks cutting at his calves and slicing right through his jeans. He winced, taking in a little water as the motion dislodged his shoe and he just barely manage to resurface to get another lungful of air.

When she saw him go under her heart almost stopped. You'd think he would have learned his lesson the first time! Panic pushes her past the wooden planks, through the cold and the stinging pain that meant nothing compared to watching Kobra drown.

Lydia fought to get to him as fast as possible, diving down when she got close enough to grab him around the waist and pull him up. She kicked as hard as she could to keep his head above water, which was no easy feat. Her arms and legs were numb but her lungs were burning and she didn't even give a fuck. This stupid idiot... risked his life for her.

"Just stay calm. Stay calm and breathe! If you don't struggle, you won't sink, I promise. I'm not letting go."

He felt her grab him before his brain could catch up with what was happening and suddenly Lydia was right there and that really did calm him a little. Lydia had his back. She had since day one.

It was easy to nod at her instruction and calm himself a little. He tried to just let her pull him in the water. Fuck, he was so stupid. He'd just seen her fall in and freaked the fuck out. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her. He'd promised.

Okay. Okay, they were going to be fine. It was easier without him moving, and she damn well knew how much trust that took for someone to just stay still while their life was in your hands. She pulled them closer to the front of the dock, heading straight for a sketchy-looking ladder covered in rust. It was their best option. Staying in water this cold wasn't exactly a long-term option.

Once they were close enough to the ladder, Lydia grabbed at the first rung she could reach and nodded for Kobra to do the same. Blood was running down her cheek now that the water couldn't wash it away and her lips were starting to look a little blue. She reached out to cup Kobra's face in her free hand. "Hey. Hey, look at me. Are you okay?"

Her heart felt like it was about to fall out through her stomach. She could have lost him. She still could lose him.

"When the shaking stops, we'll climb up, okay? Kobra?"

He did trust her. That was the thing. He shouldn't have trusted her as much as he did, but he trusted her as much as he trusted any of the Killjoys. He knew that they had each others' back no matter what.

He grabbed the ladder quickly, his other arm wrapping around her and pulling her closer. He was already starting to shiver and she had to be freezing, too. He leaned his forehead against hers.

"Y-yeah." He swallowed. "Shit, I saw you fall in and I was so scared. Are you okay?" Watching her fall in had been way more scary than going in himself. He's been through worse.

She took her hand away from his face only to hook her arm around his neck when he pulled her close.

"I'm fine! I'm okay." Still breathing and still moving, Lydia had been through worse, too. "Don't you ever do anything that stupid again." The words were useless and she knew it, but she still had to say them. Quickly, she pressed a cold kiss to Kobra's lips and for once, she didn't care who saw it.

"Thank you."

He smiled as she pulled away. "You'd do the same for me." He said it with a certainty that he didn't have much of in his life. There were a handful of people he know would follow him right off a cliff, but she was one.

As the shaking subsided, his arm tensed around her. "We should probably make a run for home when we get out of the water, huh? My jacket's over by the path. You should put it on."

It's hard to make out the words amongst the fit of giggles Anna is currently lost in, but it's something along the lines of 'I can't carry you' as they wander down to the harbour. It had been her idea to go to the docks in the first place - Tony is well and truly drunk at this point. It's partly her fault, it wasn't exactly a fair competition when 'lets get drunk' turned into 'who can drink the most', but in all fairness she hadn't quite realised how much they had consumed.

Now they're staggering along with Anna's arm wound tight around Tony's waist for support. She's swaying a bit herself but it's mostly just for show. Her grin is loose and easy going. She's laughing and it's genuine, and that can be put down to the pleasant buzz from the alcohol she's consumed - easily enough to put a regular person in hospital with alcohol poisoning but barely enough to get her tipsy. As they wander out closer she's vaguely aware of the tremor, but it doesn't really register. It's not until the shaking begins to really set in that she actually grows concerned, and the giggling and playing cuts off immediately.

"Tony, I think we should-"

And then the docks collapse under their feet, and Anna is suddenly back on the after of solid ground, very noticeably minus one Tony Stark.

His jacket? The one he wears every single day? The jacket she has never seen him leave the house without wearing? Even Lydia could see the significance in that. She nodded, looking up, "If we don't have hypothermia, yes, running sounds good."

When it was finally over, she pulled her arm away and started the climb up the ladder. On the off-chance that the ladder was a complete piece of crap and broke or something, Lydia could still swim. So she went first as quickly as possible. The sooner they were away from this dock, the better. She waited for Kobra at the top, hovering nearby just in case.

He stayed close, pulling himself up once she'd cleared the ladder with shaky arms. It took him an extra moment to stand up, because he really wanted to just curl up and conserve heat, but he forced himself.

He wrapped his arm around her again and started to walk carefully across what was left of the rickety docks. They needed to get inside and out of their wet clothes and into some blankets.

In the midst of the others falling into the water and climbing out, Maggie pulled herself up onto one of the broken docks with a loud fan-fair of coughing and gasping in nearly shredded clothing. One of the legs of her pants was entirely torn away, revealing most of her calf.

Though he hair and clothes were a mess, her skin was unharmed. There wasn't a drop of blood on her as she pulled herself up to her feet and began to move towards the shore.

Mind safely ensconced in what feels like a cushion of fizzy bubbles, Tony isn’t paying attention to where they are. It’s taking all of his concentration to put one foot in front of the other and keep pace with Anna; he can’t be bothered with orienting himself or noticing when things start to go amiss. For the moment, fleeting though it is, he’s happy, so numb that while he can’t quite forget the things that had upset him, he’s too far removed to feel anything. And that’s what he needs. He needs peace from his demons, a beautiful girl in his arm, and fun, all three of which he has in spades right now.

Until the ground slides out from beneath his feet.

He’s too drunk to realize what’s going on, and even if he were sober, it happens so fast that it’s likely he wouldn’t have known then either. There’s an instant of weightlessness, a dizzying blur of color, and a stunning blast of frigid cold that knocks the air from his lungs and doesn’t give it back. It’s when he tries to gasp for breath and feels water pouring into his lungs that he realizes that he’s underwater, that it’s water that’s making his vision blurry, not the alcohol. A brief, heart-stopping moment of panic seizes him, flashbacks of being repeatedly dunked and held down in a barrel of water making him thrash in the mindlessly urgent need to breathe, to get away.

It doesn’t last. None of it does. An instant later, something sharp collides with his head and mercifully, everything goes dark.

It actually takes a moment for Anna to realise what has happened. She stares out at the rough water and her hand reaches vaguely towards the side of her where Tony had been just moments ago, and then everything falls into place. She's gotten herself out there, panicked and saved herself without it even occurring to her, and Tony's still in there. It still isn't quite sinking in though, and Anna really isn't the best person to have in an emergency because after the horrified silence which feels like it might drag on forever, she just screams out his name.

With no response and no sign of him resurfacing, she frowns and starts to shed some of her heavier clothing. Her jacket, jeans and shoes get thrown unceremoniously to the side and she peers into the water, trying to narrow down where he is. He's been in there too long already though, she doesn't have time, so she just sucks in a deep breath before diving into the freezing cold water. She's unaffected by it, and starts turning under the water as she tries to locate him, and then she catches sight of a faint glowing a little below her and grabs out. Her hand curls around his forearm, and that's all it takes. She's not going to waste any more time.

Instantly they're back on shore, and Anna doesn't even have time to hope that no one else has seen them appear or heard the sound of fluttering wings that accompany her flight. She's too busy laying Tony down carefully, and quickly checks his pulse as she brings an ear down to his mouth. She's willing him to be breathing, to be okay because she's already been too obvious, already done too much in saving him. She can't just have him be magically okay, someone will piece it together soon the way Mina did.

He isn’t dead. He might wish that he was later, when he’s battered and hungover and completely miserable. But at the moment, he’s alive. His heartbeat is strong, surprisingly so, considering that it’s defective and broken, easily felt when Anna checks his pulse.

There’s a cut on his forehead, right above his temple, that bleeds freely but not dangerously. He won’t bleed out from it, and while the knock to his head may have resulted in a concussion, it hasn’t cracked his skull or sent him into a coma. His clothes are torn and thoroughly soaked, and if she looks, she’ll notice the faint glow of the arc reactor from beneath his shirt.

For a moment, it seems as though he’s not breathing. His chest doesn’t rise or fall, no air passes through his nose or his mouth. But then, as the seconds tick by, he starts coughing, weak, sluggish coughing that ends with him turning his head and retching up the salt water he’s swallowed. His eyes open once, unfocused and dazed, not really seeing her even though they turn in her direction, before they close again and he falls limply back against the ground, unconscious but alive.

The shivering was getting worse. Lydia clung with both arms around Kobra's waist. She was worried about his legs, his core temperature, and about thirty other things at the same time. They moved slower than she would have liked, but at least they were moving at all.

She bent down as the got to the path, picking up the discarded jacket and handing it to him. "Take it, I'm fine." She wasn't but she would be when they got home. The look on her face was a mixture of concern, sympathy, and something else. "We'll be home soon, anyway."

A quick glance back to the destruction saw the girl that had fallen first get out of the water just fine. Lydia was relieved, but would have saved Kobra over her if she'd had to make a choice. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

Anna drops his wrist the moment she feels the pulse, it's strong and that is nowhere near her main concern now. She's sure he's not breathing, and she presses a hand to his chest as she leans in closer. She's been around a long time, she thinks she can do CPR, but she's never actually had to administer it before. It's hardly high up on the list of job requirements for the Host, after all.

"Come on, come on- Oh thank God." She quickly pulls away enough to rest a hand behind his head as the water comes up, but no sooner than that happens he's gone again before she can say a word. A deep frown setting in, she slides an arm under his legs as she works the other under his shoulders and Anna picks him up with surprising ease.

She shouldn't be able to carry him, not like this, and certainly not without struggling. Barely tipping 5'5 and just over a hundred pounds, there's no way someone her size would be able to gather someone up in their arms like that, let alone a fully grown man. She does it all the same though, and it doesn't occur to her that she's going to have to explain to someone, that it's going to raise as many questions as if she'd just taken him their through flight. All she's thinking about is getting Tony back to his house and making sure he's going to be okay.

Even in the cold, he rolled his eyes at her. He took the jacket and draped it around her shoulders, urging her on. He could make it to the house. He was fine, or he would be. Whatever.

He looked back at the dock to see what she was looking at, catching a glimpse of the unharmed girl. Well, wasn't that just fucking peachy for her? Because Kobra's leg were cut to shit.

The walk back to the house was quiet and more than a little uncomfortable in their wet clothes. Lydia's injuries weren't bothering her and she was far more concerned with Kobra's. She held onto him the entire time.

As soon as they got in the door, Lydia was moving a little quicker, a little more frantic. She ushered Kobra to his room. Her first priority was getting him warm.

"Get changed. Leave your wet clothes in the bathroom, I'll deal with it later. I'll see if we have any extra blankets. Don't forget to dry your hair." Though, it's probably a little late for that one, considering they just walked home in the cold with wet hair. It's the thought that counts. She's in panic mode!

He was already tugging his sopping shirt over his head. "You, too, Lyds. Get dry and then we'll work on getting you warmed up, okay?"

He'd collected a few sweatshirts and things from other houses that he was thankfully able to change into, so he set about doing that. he pulled on some flannel pajama pants and a sweatshirt before dropping his wet stuff on the towel rack in the hallway bathroom.

Then he went back into his room to grab all of the blankets he and Party had and went straight for Lydia's room.

The warmest things she could find in her dresser were some grey sweatpants that she wouldn't have been caught dead in otherwise and an over-sized, knitted sweater. Not the most attractive ensemble, but it's not like she planned on leaving the house any time soon.

She quickly ties her hair up and wipes the blood from her face. There's even time for a lip gloss application. Thank god for waterproof mascara.

"Did you just pull those off your bed?" Between the two of them, there were a lot of blankets. Lydia smiled, taking the ones Kobra brought and spread them out over the existing ones. Linen lasagna. She crawls under them on her side of the bed...

And takes a second to think about just how weird it is that Kobra has his own side of her bed. Not a good sign.

He lets her take them with a little smile. "Well, yeah. We'll get warmer way faster together."

He climbs in on the other side of the bed and then moves to the middle, reaching for her. Sometimes a freezing cold guy just wants to cuddle with his incredibly awesome freezing cold girl friend. Note the space. The space is important, because Kobra doesn't do girlfriends, only girl friends.

His hair is all pushed back and mess and he just lets it be knotty and gross. He'll wash it out later when he's warm. His toes are tingling from the sudden warmth of the house and he wiggles them under the blankets. Fuck, that is nice.

No. Nope. Obviously they are just friends and there's nothing going on here. They're friends that occasionally have sex with each other and would apparently die for each other, but that's it. That's where Lydia draws the line.

"Oh, right. I see. How do I know you didn't plan that entire thing just for this very outcome?" But she slides easily into his arms all the same. Her shivering slows and will eventually stop. For now, she's content to be huddled against him.

It really is nice. She could just drift off right here if it wasn't for the nagging thought tugging at the back of her mind.

"... We almost died."

He pulls her into a tight hold, because he's cold and she's cold and because he wants to.

He knows that they almost died, of course. He's used to that being a fact of his life, but he knows she probably isn't and it's fucking scary the first few times, anyway. He'd been way more scared for her than himself.

He kisses her forehead. "All part of my plan. Build rickety docks, kidnap you here, pretend I'm kidnapped, too... then all I had to do was cause an earthquake while you were on said rickety docks. Easy-peasy."

He grins. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I take care of my friends."

She's still pretty new to this. The first time, she'd been unconscious for most of it. The soft laughter that follows the kiss is probably the only thing keeping her from sobbing. There's a dull ache in her chest and she can't tell if it's from almost drowning or the fact that she knows Kobra would never let anything happen to her.

"Pretty elaborate for someone obsessed with children's television shows. I bet you had help."

Friends. Just friends.

Cold fingers trace the equally cold outline of his jaw absently. Just friends.

Kobra just snorts. "You've met my brother. Which of us do you think helps the other with homework here?" He doesn't mind. There isn't a hint of bitterness. He fucking loves his brother, but that doesn't change the fact that he's more together than Party is. He has been for a while.

He kisses her cheek. "And Yo Gabba Gabba isn't just a kid's show. It teaches important life lessons, Lyds."

He ducks his head to nip her shoulder. "I'm a slow learner, though." Because you don't bite your friends!

Chilly Weather for a Swim

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