Wading In

by Merry Amelie

Title: Wading In
Author: Merry Amelie
Archive: MA only
Category: Alternate Reality, Qui/Obi, Romance, Series
Rating: PG
Summary: Cooling off.

I'm posting Arcadia and Q/O drabbles to TPM 100.

Series: Academic Arcadia -- # 147
A chronological list of the series with the URLs can be found under the header 'Academic Arcadia' at the Master Apprentice ML.

My MA story page is here.

Feedback: Is treasured at MerryAmelie@aol.com.
Disclaimer: Mr. Lucas owns everything Star Wars. I'm not making any money.

For
My beta team: Nerowill, Emila-Wan, and Carol
Mali Wane for posting
My former betas: Alex, Ula, and Padawan Sue

Childhood photo stories:
The True Picture
The Complete Picture

Lelia's tantrum:
Jedi Trick or Treat

For Nerowill

"Laddie!"

Ian snickered unrepentantly at Quinn's exclamation. They were sprawled in Lelia's kiddie pool in the backyard after their niece and her friend Han Chang had left for home. Their heads and upper backs rested against the inflated sides, while their legs were bent at rakish angles and flopped over the edge. They'd finally gotten all the sand out of their trunks after their vacation in Maine over the Fourth of July, so they were blessedly itch-free.

Ian took shameless advantage of Quinn's lounging by splashing his chest with sun-warmed water.

"Hey! I thought the kiddies were out of the pool," Quinn huffed in mock indignation.

"Well, I am your laddie," Ian teased.

Quinn gave a quick look to make sure their trees blocked them from the Changs' view, then dove in for a kiss.

The vinyl squeaked squishily under Ian, but he didn't even notice, not with Quinn's lips on his. Only when Quinn broke the kiss did he say, "Mmmm. I can see I'll have to make a splash more often."

Quinn groaned and kissed him again.

Ian felt the reverberations of that groan against his palate. "I'm a real handful, aren't I?" he murmured into Quinn's mouth.

"And a half, lad," Quinn said, deepening the kiss with enthusiasm.

Ian grabbed Quinn's hand from the water between them. "Lucky you have such big hands, then."

Quinn entwined their fingers. "And I enjoy putting them to good use." His laddie's breath caught gratifyingly.

A slow smile graced Ian's face. "Adult swim doesn't start for a few minutes yet, handsome."

Quinn chuckled. "We need a bigger pool."

"Oh, yeah," Ian said, waving his feet over the edge, "but at least it's perfect for Lelia and Han."

"Mmm-hmm. They're becoming good friends." Quinn disentangled their hands, so he could rub a drop of water into Ian's cheek.

Ian hummed in pleasure. "He knows how to deal with her snits already."

"A handy skill to have." Quinn continued his gentle rubbing long after the droplet was gone. "Han started learning kung fu last year, and he's getting Lelia even more excited about her aikido lessons in the fall."

Ian was dissolving into the water by now. "I'm looking forward to having her with us at the dojo. She's a natural."

"I've been waiting forever to get her into the jisou class. She'll do us proud." Quinn's beam outshone a sunbeam angling across the pool.

Ian nodded. "We've only been teaching her since she was a toddler."

"Let's pick up her gi at the academy before she visits next weekend. That way she can get used to wearing it before classes start in September."

"I can see I'd better have the camera charged," Ian said playfully.

Quinn's eyes, already squinted against the sun, crinkled even more. "You know me so well, laddie. I want a lot of photos of Lelia and her Uncle Wan together."

"Still remember when you gave me my first gi," Ian said softly, bumping shoulders with Quinn.

"Actually, it wasn't quite your first, lad." Quinn smiled reminiscently. "What about your Halloween costume when you were eight?"

Ian grinned. He still had the framed picture on his desk that Quinn had given him of the two of them in their Jedi linens together as children, thanks to Quinn's Photoshopping. He'd played a very young Old Ben, and Quinn had made a dashing Luke. The photo shared a double lucite frame with the one Master Yodama had taken of them when they'd grown into their gi. "You've almost convinced me that we went trick-or-treating together."

"Would've been quite a treat, laddie." Quinn's eyes were shining in the afternoon sun.

"At least we go out together with our little princess now. Kathy says Lelia still won't hear of us being anyone but Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon." Ian sighed as he thought of her tantrum last year, when they'd dressed as Wedge Antilles and Rob Roy. Too bad she hadn't met Han then. Ian could just see him as his namesake, the cocky Corellian smuggler. Lelia would have been so taken with him, she'd barely have noticed her uncles' costumes.

"Wonder if she'll outgrow that soon?" Quinn asked, throwing his leg over Ian's.

Ian gave him a delicious grin and a shrug.

Quinn rubbed their calves together in a slow glide. "She's only five. Guess we won't know until October."

"I know one thing for sure -- we're keeping the kiddie pool after she outgrows it," Ian said with a sly wink, as he leaned in to give his husband a very wet kiss.

Quinn chuckled his pleasure into Ian's mouth. He didn't need to be psychic to know adult swim was finally about to start.