Making Remy Laugh (BoyxBoy)

Five- Cecil Clarke

Atticus showed up for swim practice that morning, but he was accompanied by a tired looking Sydney. Cecil tried not to show his disappointment the second he realized that Sydney had accompanied the young Atticus rather than his older brother, but he must have failed, because Sydney noticed him at the same time, and his blue eyes narrowed knowingly. 

Before Cecil could ask Sydney if Remy had spoken of him- though it was kind of clear that he had the moment Sydney's eyes narrowed accusingling- Atticus was running towards Cecil, completely ignoring Carter's warning of, "Don't run by the pool, buddy!"

Cecil wasn't sure if he had been waiting for Atticus to slow or not, it all happened so fast that he didn't have enough time think about it, but he thankfully did have the time to catch Atticus as the boy slipped and almost face planted on the cement. "Woah, buddy," Cecil said, reaching out to grab the small boy quickly, and holding him until he was stable on his feet. "No running by the pool, remember? It worries Mr. Carter, and it worries me. We have rules for a reason. We don't want you to get hurt".

Atticus's blue eyes grew very wide, as if he was just now realizing that he had been moving at a pace that wasn't appropriate for the pool. They had this conversation almost every time, but Atticus was a very enthusiastic child and got too excited to listen. "I'm sorry Mr. Cecil. I was very excited to talk to you about ice cream".

"Oh yeah?"  Cecil asked, desperately hoping that Atticus was about to mention his older brother. The debacle in the ice cream parlor had happened two days before and Cecil hadn't stopped thinking about Remy since. Actually, he had barely stopped thinking about Remy since he had first saw him, sitting on the edge of the pool with his legs in the water. Cecil had thought that he was so beautiful then, but that was before Remy had opened his mouth and told him off. And then, had done it again. Over and over again until Cecil finally got to taste  Remy's lips, just for a second. And then once again, Remy had snapped at him.

God, if he wasn't the goddamn sexiest thing-

"Atticus". This was Carter, sneaking up behind Cecil and nearly scaring the dye out of his hair. He shot the other boy a glare and Carter gave him a knowing smile before fixing Atticus with a pointed look. "What did we talk about, Mr. Reed?"

Atticus was looking at his shoes. "No running by the pool".

"And what did you do?"

"I ran by the pool". Atticus looked so ashamed of himself that Cecil had to turn away from them before his heart broke. He was unsurprised to find Jordan standing a few feet behind Carter with a smile on his face, eyeing his crouching boyfriend in a way that Cecil didn't know weather to deem inappropriate or loving. Cecil raised his eyebrows in surprise. Jordan's green eyes moved to his for a second and he grinned before stepping closer to him and saying:

"He's so good with kids," quietly so neither Carter nor Atticus could hear him. Cecil looked at Jordan for a moment longer, and then down at the young boy being reprimanded by his co-worker.

"He's scolding him," Cecil pointed out and Jordan just shrugged.

"Being good with kids isn't just always agreeing with them. He's scolding him to keep him safe," Jordan said, just as Carter rose from his crouch.

"That's right," Carter agreed. "See, even Jordan understands why you can't run by the pool. It's to keep you safe". Atticus's head was tilted back to look up at all of them with blue eyes that were still sad, but the look was slowly fading as it always did. By the time he returned for his next lesson, he wouldn't remember the lesson that Carter had once again tried to teach him.

"Even Jordan?" Jordan asked and Carter looked at him with raised eyebrows, a question on his face. Jordan just looked back at him, and Cecil knew if he didn't speak they would be stuck like that, lost in one another's eyes, for some time.