Author's Note: A one shot. Beta'd by Ebonyfeather, mistakes are mine not hers. Characters are not mine. But please...enjoy!
Nervous Around Water
Becker noticed his hesitance and saw the way he looked at the water as if it was something terrible and wonderful at the same time. He noted the discomfort he was in about the blue swimming shorts and his near nakedness in such a public area.
It amused Becker no end to see the usually reserved and confident Matt Anderson in such trepidation. The way his arms crossed over his chest, trying to cover himself up was so endearing; the nervous steps he took as he walked along the side of the pool and the child like fear in his eyes when he gazed to the bottom made Becker smirk. Future boy wasn't so full of himself now was he?
"Scared, Matt?" Becker stood next to him and purposely knocked his elbow against his side. It made Matt step away and rub his hands apprehensively over his arms.
"No. I'm being cautious, that's all."
"About what?" Becker frowned in confusion. "It's a swimming pool. I said I was coming here to do lengths and you accepted the invitation to come along. Is there a problem with it? Can you not swim or something?"
"Er…?"
"You can't swim?" The lack of reply only made Becker's grin widen.
"Er…?"
Becker laughed and stepped up close to Matt, who then tried to look anywhere except at him. Becker lowered his voice to a soft deep but mocking tone and whispered into his ear.
"Why the hell did you join me if you can't swim, you idiot?"
Matt flinched at the sensation of Becker's breath upon his face and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"I wanted to see how you look in those stunning shorts?"
Becker smirked again and his eyes flicked downwards. There was no missing the fact that Matt clearly liked what he saw and Becker had to bite his bottom lip to try and stop smirking, but it failed.
"You're not looking too bad yourself, Future Boy. They suit you."
Anderson's hands immediately covered his groin and his face blushed - actually blushed - as he looked around, hoping no one else was seeing his ridiculous reaction. It made Becker laugh more.
"Relax! There's no one else here! Hardly anyone knows the ARC has its own pool any way. Look, if you want to learn how to swim, I can help you! So stop being such a girl and man up, wuss!" Becker slapped at Matt's backside and proceeded to the edge of the pool, pulling his goggles over the top of his head.
"Okay! So I can't swim! Can we stop with the idiotic name calling now?"
Becker shook his head. Matt really should know that he wouldn't.
"It's so adorable that a man of your age can't swim."
"Fuck off!" Matt was infuriated more by that smug look grinning back at him. "A man of my age? You do know that you're technically older than me by a few hundred years?"
"Do you really want to get into this argument again, Future Boy? Because you know I'll win. I'm not even thirty yet! And you're what? Thirty-four? Thirty-five? Getting on a bit?"
Matt scowled.
"Getting on a bit? You are really asking for trouble, aren't you?"
"I just think it's sweet that you can't swim."
"I'll have you know, in my time there was no swimming and no bathing because the water was like acid. It was toxic and it was perfectly natural to be afraid of it! Do you even know how hard it was to make the damned stuff drinkable?"
"No, but I can imagine. Matt, you were 18 when you came through the anomaly, why didn't you try learning to swim after all these years?"
"My father didn't deem it important and I happened to agree with him because saving the world kind of took precedence."
"My hero!" Becker fluttered his eyelids and pretended to swoon. It only infuriated Matt more.
"You are such an arsehole, aren't you?" The Captain grinned proudly at being called that and folded his arms across his chest, adopting his stance to one that got Matt a little distracted mid-ramble. He saw the slight hint of a smile curl on Matt's lips and his eyes seemed for a moment to glaze over with want. "Any way…New Dawn has been stopped, I don't have to go back to my own time; I don't want to go back. I can finally do anything. So, I'm curious as to what it's like to swim."
"Fine. I understand completely. There's nothing wrong with being curious. After all, look what it got you!" Becker wiggled his eyebrows in suggestion.
Matt sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Oh…yeah. What did it get me? A relationship with a smug git of a Captain who snores, steals all the covers in the middle of the night and is a great big pain in my arse!"
"Don't you just love it though?" Becker laughed again when Matt flipped him the finger. Becker so loved teasing him. He rubbed his hands before beckoning. "Come on then. Get in."
The frustration gone, Matt tentatively edged with cautious steps ever closer to the edge. Becker couldn't believe that a brave man like Matt Anderson, who could face off against numerous creatures and predators, was behaving like a frightened kid when it came to something as simple swimming.
"Connor told me about how you liked working on that Submarine a while back." He said in his normal non-mocking tone. "How the bloody hell would you have managed to serve on a sub in the Navy if this is your reaction to water?"
"I joined the army so I didn't have to. It's difficult to explain how I feel about this, Becker. It fascinates me no end that people can swim in this stuff and the life in the oceans are amazing, but…I'm naturally cautious. I guess I don't know quite what to expect, but I'm here, I'm willing."
"Sure." Becker lightly patted his hand on Matt's back in assurance. His fingers then lightly clasped hold of his shoulder and Becker waited for Matt to make another approach. "But are you going to stop being a big girl's blouse and get in any time soon?"
Matt smiled. "A big girl's blouse? That's original. Becker…I can't just shake off thirty odd years of anxiety about water!"
"I know that! But I'm right here, Matt. If I tell you it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay! Do you trust me?"
Matt didn't need to say anything. His smile said it all and they both remembered.
"Yeah. With my life."
"Good. Now I'm ordering you…get that of arse of yours in the pool!"
For a good few minutes, Matt didn't make a move. Then all he kept on doing was edging forward, peering down into the clear water and moving away again.
Becker looked at the clock. He didn't have long for a break and an anomaly could open up at any time. He had planned on doing a few lengths for his workout but it didn't look like it was going to happen, especially if Matt wanted to learn how to swim. Though teaching Matt was a pleasing thought to Becker…if only he got into the water.
"Matt. Get in the pool. You've got nothing to fear or worry about. I'm right here! I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know you won't."
Matt edged forward and then backed off again and after a further ten minutes of his 'faffing about', Becker was beginning to get a little more than peeved off. He must be doing this on purpose.
"Get in the fucking pool, Anderson!"
"Jeez, Becker! Is that any way to talk to your superior?"
"Sorry, boss!" Sarcasm oozed in Becker's voice before the slight tinge of annoyance took over. "Are you going to get in or not?"
"Yeah. When I'm ready."
"And when will that be? In this century or yours?"
"Oh, ha ha…very funny!"
"I wasn't trying to be funny...but I am now."
Becker never gave Matt the opportunity to ask what he meant. The Captain of the ARC acted instantly by grabbing hold of Matt's shorts and whipping them down to his ankles with one sharp tug.
"YOU BASTARD!"
Becker creased up with hysterical laughter as he watched Matt frantically attempt to pull up his shorts, but instead, he tripped over them and plunged head first into the pool.
Becker jumped in after him and within seconds managed to aid Matt up to the surface. Once they both caught their breaths, Becker couldn't help but laugh some more as the expletives continued to splutter from Matt's mouth. The look of rage on his partner's face as he scrambled to reach the side was amusing and as Becker clasped at his shoulders to help console him from the shock, Matt kept interchanging from English and Irish profanities, unable to settle on one particular language.
It was so lovely to see him flustered like this.
Becker reached out and pulled Matt closer to him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders in an attempt to calm his constant stream of swearing down and to stop his anxiety about the water. But Becker couldn't keep a straight face, nor could he stop himself from feeling so damned infatuated at the same time. Matt was looked so damned hot when he was angry.
"You fucking idiot! Téigh trasna ort féin! Jesus, Becker! You are such a shit!"
Matt's surly spew of insults didn't deter Becker at all, who tightened his grip on Matt with a huge squeeze before letting him go, running a hand briefly through Matt's hair and slapping gently at his face.
"I'm such a shit? This is fine coming from a man who smeared mammoth dung on my back…knowing full well I couldn't smell it because I had a cold!"
"I could have drowned!" Matt shoved him away, instantly regretted it and clung to the side once more.
"Oh shut up!" Becker's sincerity spoke through his chuckles. "I wouldn't let it anything happen to you, you daft git! For your information, I never pushed you in the first place. Now come here…"
Becker stepped behind Matt, pressed himself against his back and pried his hands away from the side to clasp them tightly in his own. He turned Matt round to face him and snaked one hand up along Matt's arm and placed it against his back to support him as they both began to slowly move in small circles in the water.
"Feel all right now?" Becker asked gently wiping the drops of water from Matt's face.
"I'll get you back for that." Matt was resisting the urge to smile himself as no doubt his mind began to concoct a plan to exact revenge.
"I don't think it will count if you do. What I just did? No one else saw it and besides it was nowhere near as bad as the time you placed that recording device in the toilet and patched the playback through the PA system." Becker hissed angrily as he leant his face into the crook of Matt's neck and pushed him up against the wall of the pool. "Everyone still talks about it!"
Matt snickered.
"I'll never forget that wonderful expression on your face. Anyway, I will get you back."
"Oh really?" Becker angled his face so his mouth brushed against Matt's jaw. The light trace of his lips caused Matt to close his eyes and grind his teeth, his resolve weakening. Becker felt Matt's hands coil round his back, digging his nails a little harder into his skin. "No one else was here and it was just me who saw…everything. So I don't think it warrants retaliation? Does it?"
The 'does it?' murmured against Matt's mouth and when he got no response, no kind of answer except for a stuttering groan, Becker kissed him hard, fisting his hands in Matt's hair demanding a response. In that instant, Becker felt Matt relax and he kissed back with equal vigour and lust. His hands slipped on Becker's back, trying to get a hold but Becker wasn't going to allow him to be the dominant one here. He shoved Matt back again and took firm control of the kiss, directing Matt with strokes of his tongue and sharp tugs on his hair.
"Does it?" Becker snarled, pulled Matt's head back and kissed across his throat, biting and sucking to force a reluctant but pleasured groan from him.
"No." Matt kissed Becker back, between choking words and gasps for breath. "But that stunt you pulled at Emily's does demand payback. You embarrassed me and her in front of her entire family."
"How was I supposed to know you went commando?" Becker laughed wickedly, allowing one hand to drop from Matt's head and to rest upon his backside.
"You knew because you had been hiding all my underwear the week before! I mean why would you do that?"
"For so many wonderful reasons." Becker grinned and continued the kiss, silencing their taunting and teases until only gasps and grunts of effort and want sounded in their ears and moaned in their mouths.
The water began to ripple and then small waves turned into larger rougher ones as they became more unruly and aggressive in their tussle. Becker felt his whole skin burning as the kiss raged on and his hands clawed at Matt, wanting more from him than just this crazed lusting devouring. His head wasn't thinking, he didn't care that they could be interrupted at any time, for all that mattered now was that he could be inside of him. He felt himself harden, the throbbing all along his cock was driving him insane and his lust craze heightened every time he breathed in Matt's scent, every time he tasted him and heard him moan.
He would have him right here and now. Becker didn't care that they might be discovered, he wanted to be inside Matt, he needed to bury and lose himself within him.
Becker finally tore himself away from the kiss and forced Matt around, gnawing hungrily at the base of his neck and clawing at his chest.
"You're not going to teach me to swim are you?"
"Nah. I've got something a lot more fun in mind."
However Becker wasn't going to get his way either.
"GERONIMO!"
A startlingly loud, bellowing cry echoed around the pool and Becker saw a brief flash of something small leaping over their heads to land in the water with a mighty splash. After a few moments, Connor Temple broke the surface and threw a wet punch into the air in triumph.
"WHOO-hoo!" He laughed and cheered some more, but his joy was very short lived. Upon seeing Becker and Matt, how close they were and how they were holding each other, the smile vanished in an instant. He smacked the water sending another splash over Becker. "Oh bloody hell guys. HERE? You're making out HERE? Is there nowhere in ARC that you haven't defiled?"
"I think Lester's office remains unscathed." Becker joked. Matt snorted in laughter and both of them had to smother their mouths with their hands at the look of shock on Connor's face.
"Are…" Connor nearly choked. "Are you telling me you've been in my lab? You have had sex in my lab? On my desk? I eat my lunch in there!"
"Oh God no, Connor!" cried Matt, shaking his head.
"We wouldn't dare!" Becker added, covering his mouth again.
Connor's relief made the lie worth it. His face beamed happily, lifting his feet up off the bottom of the pool and floated away contently on his back. Becker really didn't have the heart to tell him now that there was one unfortunate happenstance that occurred, whilst Connor was away in Canada. But then Becker knew he would have to tell Connor eventually. The man had done a lot for them.
It wasn't planned…it just happened.
Becker thought them all lucky Connor hadn't jumped into the pool a few minutes later than he did. The guy would have probably had a heart attack.
"Good. But seriously guys…this is getting beyond a joke. You asked me to keep your secret and I'm all for doing that, but for the love of my sanity, can't you tone it down a little? You're like randy hormonal teenagers!"
"Sorry, Connor." Becker and Matt chorused together.
"Actually, why don't you tell everyone? It would be so much better. The girls would be chuffed to bits if they knew!"
Becker wasn't going to mention that Emily already knew.
"We're not ready yet." Matt politely said. "We're still enjoying what we have. You know how it is at the beginning of a relationship. It's exciting and new?"
"It's been more than three months now."
It has? Becker didn't realise that and there was a strange feeling of fear in the pit of his stomach. Judging by the surprised look upon Matt's face, he didn't realise it either.
Connor grinned and nodded in understanding before he carried on floating about the pool.
"Okay guys. You believe what you want. I won't say a thing until you're both ready. Just….don't do it here. Please? Have some restraint?"
"Sure. We can do that for you."
Connor gave them two thumbs up in appreciation, before beginning a lazy back crawl up and down the pool. For a few moments, Becker watched Connor swim like this, but every now and then, his head turned to look at them.
"Aren't you going to teach Matt to swim then?" Connor asked, diving under for a moment and coming back up. Becker shrugged his shoulders but didn't move to do anything else. "I can help if you want! I love the water! I could swim before I could walk! How about it?"
"Erm…maybe another time?" Becker suggested, looking hopeful toward Matt.
"I don't mind if Connor wants to help." He replied.
"Yeah…he might not want to."
Matt hadn't a clue what Becker was trying to tell him. Even the jabbing finger at Connor was lost on the man from the future. Becker sighed and counted in his head.
"One, two, three…"
"OH MY GOD!"
Connor got out of the pool almost as suddenly and quickly as he had leapt into it. Now he was the one uttering curses and indistinguishable words under his breath, angry and embarrassed at the same time.
"Guys…get a bloody room for crying out loud!"
Something small flew through the air and Becker's reflex action was to reach out grab it. He watched Connor run out of the room, before smirking at the sight of the blue swimming shorts in his hand.
"He's right. We really need to tone it down a bit."
As Matt urgently snatched back his shorts, the two of them couldn't help but grin. It was impossible to tone anything down between them, especially now. Becker allowed his hands to curl round Matt's waist and rest upon his bare backside. Pulling him closer, feeling the touch of his erection against his own only intensified the need once again and his mind began to haze.
It was the same feeling he felt when he first met Matt Anderson. It was the same sensation he experienced day after day in his presence. There was no way he could ever tone down his feelings for this man…not ever.
"Are you going to teach me to swim then?" asked Matt, as he softly scraped a kiss over Becker's mouth.
"I'd much rather screw you to within an inch of your life."
"You're such a romantic…aren't you?"
"Are you objecting?"
"Not at all."
"Good. That's what I like to hear."
Their arms wrapped around each other, mouths and tongues barely had a moment to interlock when something impacted with their heads.
The two polystyrene floats broke them apart.
"I said GET A ROOM!"