"No. No! No! Stop it, Tom, it's going to tip!" Harry clung to the sides of the wildly listing canoe for dear life while Tom all but lay on his back at the bottom, his tall frame shaking with mirth and the paddles clutched haphazardly in his hands. "Arsehole! You want us to go into this water, don't you?"

"Maybe." Harry stuck his tongue out at him. "Why so frightened, love? It's only about twenty feet deep and infested with snakes."

"Thomas Marvolo Riddle!"

The brunet was laughing even harder now; the boat was drifting idly with the will of the black water and the raven was of half a mind to worry that his husband might soon turn blue. Though it would serve him right to choke to death on his own laughter after riling him up so much.

"Alright, fine. Fifteen feet, about, and no snakes." Harry relaxed. "There are alligators, though."

"Alli-! I'm not an idiot, idiot! I know that there are no alligators in the Mid-West!"

"Crocodiles, then."

"Tom!" Harry went to give them a half playful half reprimanding swat but shifted his weight too quickly for the liking of the canoe that they were in. It dipped violently just as he was getting to his feet and he tumbled over the side with a yelp.

Even in the middle of summer the lake was so cold that it was like falling into a bucket of ice. Silt clogged the water, blurring his vision and making his surroundings appear to be tinted in shades of amber. A small school of fish stared warily at him from nearby. A frond of some type of slimy lake plant brushed against the bottom of his foot. When his head broke the surface it was to the sound of Tom howling with laughter.

"It's freezing!" He squawked, floundering back towards the canoe while all but certain that he looked like a half drowned cat. "Help me get back to the canoe you ruddy bastard! This is your fault!"

"I do declare, my love, that you tipped yourself." Tom's head popped up over the side and grinned down at him. "How's the water?"

"Wet!"

"Well, isn't that a given?"

"Tom, please! This isn't funny!"

The brunet, though still smirking and chuckling, took mercy on his plight and reached down to help him back up into the canoe only to have Harry latch onto him with a smirk of his own and pull him over the side.

Tom resurfaced seconds later, shaking out his dripping hair like a dog would its coat and spitting on a mouthful of the lake. "One thing that never changes is the temperature. It's a good thing I left my phone in the car."

"You'd deserve having to replace it!"

"Oh, would I?" Harry sniffed at him and turned away. "Come now, love. Don't be like that."

"This isn't funny!"

"I disagree."

The raven whirled around. "I-ack!" Spluttering around the face full of water he received he glared at the other male.

"What? Aren't you going to get me back for splashing you darling?"

Green eyes widened, then narrowed. "Are you challenging me to a splash fight, Tom?"

"If I said yes, Harry," he took care to emphasize his name, showing off his perfect teeth in a wide grin, "what would you do about it?"

"What would I do about it?" the raven pretended to ponder the question momentarily while training water. "Just this."

He flung a wall of water in Tom's direction before taking off as fast as he could. Tom dove under his attack and swam after him, nailing him with a trio of smaller splashes before he could properly escape his range. The two traded splashes and laughter all the way into shallow water before the brunet finally caught him, wrapping him in his arm and pulling him below the water.

Their lips met. Their teeth clicked. Their air escaped in rippling silver bubbles and all that they could taste were each other and the rocky tang of the lake. Hands wandering. Fabric and hair floating free in the gentle current.

Just as Harry felt for sure that his lungs would explode from lack of air Tom dragged him upwards and they surfaced again. Collapsing against the soft mud of a small island's bank just moments later and resuming their wild kissing.

Mud slathered the back of his clothing and smeared in his hair and onto his skin. Tom was warm on top of him, sucking and nipping gently on his wet and swollen-red lips. His soaked and dripping hair was a bedraggled, tangled, perfect mess as Harry threaded his fingers through it and cupped his nape to hold him close.

Through the constricting fabric of his jeans Tom's arousal poked him in the thigh, the added friction prompting the brunet to let out a rather vicious growl.

"I want you." He stifled a whine against his neck. "I want you, love. It's been so long. I want you now."

"Now?" Out in the open in the middle of the day under the endless blue sky of high summer? Beside the lake on a muddy bank? Tom's dark eyes were black with desire and he was breathing erratically as Harry ran his hands over the straining muscles of his upper arms. "We should wait." He wanted him too. Badly. But the thought of doing it there, like that, didn't seem quite right. "It's only one more night." He brought his hand up to his face and watched in fascination as Tom leaned his cheek into his palm. "We should wait."

There was well hidden frustration in his eyes as he pulled away. "It's up to you. I already promised that, didn't I? That it would be your pace." Tom rolled off of him and onto his back before beckoning him over with a crooked finger. "Come lay with me. There's something on this island that I want you to see but I'd rather not walk around with a hard on even if there's no one around to see it so I'll need to settle down first."

How cavalierly he was able to say that line lit Harry's face up a bright red color.

"Give me about ten minutes."

The raven settled briefly against his chest before he propped himself up on his elbows and said shyly "maybe…maybe I could help you…take care of it a little sooner?"

Tom's eyes were blackening again; he regarded him with an expression of wolfish curiosity.

"Oh? And how do you plan on doing that, doll?"

"I…well…" red up to his ears he gave up on trying to vocalize his intentions and simply reached for him. Undoing the button on his jeans before glancing back up at him as if seeking permission to continue. Tom was watching him with hunger and no hint of reprimand in his eyes.

Still unsure but bolstered by the evident lust in the brunet's eyes he continued as he'd been doing and pushed the waistband of his jeans down before lightly palming him through the damp fabric of his boxers and pushing them down as well.

The erection that he came face to face with was rather intimidating in that he didn't know quite what to do with it. The length was thick and marbled with blue veins and the head was a dark ruddy color, dewed with beads of a foreign pearly fluid. Harry hesitated, and then cautiously flicked his tongue out. Darting the tip out across his slit. The taste that he was met with was salty and musky, but not unpleasant, nor was the hiss that his actions drew out of Tom.

He peeked coyly at him through dark lashes, taking in his carnal expression, then bent and took him in his mouth. Wrapping his lips around his girth and beginning to bob his head in the manner that the hand now knotted in his hair directed him to. Pressed so close against him Tom's unique scent-dark and heady-was almost overwhelmingly strong. The brunet groaned low in his throat, his head tilting back and his jaw falling slack as he struggled with the urge to buck his hips forward.

Harry got a bit too ambitious and choked; Tom gently tugged him back.

"Careful, sweetheart. Don't hurt yourself." His voice was husky. "Go slow if you need to."

"I'm fine, Tom." He nuzzled against his hip before resuming his work. Tonguing the long vein threading the underside of the swollen length and hollowing his cheeks.

"Harry-!" The warning was delivered too late. Tom's fingers spasmed in his hair as he came undone. The raven tried to swallow but was overwhelmed by what he was given, the milky fluid escaping from the corners of his mouth and down along his now flaccid member.

He pulled Harry back up and kissed him, chasing the taste of himself in the raven's mouth. Harry laid a hand against his chest and pushed him back.

"Let's go and see whatever it was that you wanted to show me before you go and get yourself worked up again."

"You're right." He didn't seem particularly happy about that. "Though we should wash up a bit, first, while we're still beside the lake. We're both covered in mud and…well…"

The grin on his face was absurdly satisfied as he stood up and walked back out into the waist deep water. Pulling off his shirt and washing the mud out of his hair before scrubbing and ringing out the fabric and pulling it back on. Tucking himself away, he turned back to find Harry staring.

"Are you going to clean up as well, love?"

The raven jumped slightly and quickly went about washing up in the same way, his movements rushed and jerky. Tom's amusement was palpable.

"Ready?" Harry nodded. "Come along, then. It isn't far from here."

Tom's warm hand enclosing his chased the chill of the water away as he led him up onto the bank and onto the island itself. Mud gave way to thick grass and sweet smelling wild flowers. In the center of the island was a lone, towering willow tree which cast a rippling shadow across the ground.

Tom ducked under the swaying bows of the weeping tree and led him to the trunk by the hand, pointing towards the symbol carved into the trunk by either a pocket knife or a set of keys.

Tom + Harry '08

Ne Perenni Cremer Igne

"Do you remember that day, my love?"

The images were blurred and indistinct, as if they belonged to someone else, but he did remember it. It had been their eighth date. The surprise of being taken out to the cabin; of seeing it for the first time. The chill of the black water; how glorious it felt juxtaposed against the humid heat of summer. The island. The willow. Carving their initials and the Latin phrase into the trunk as testament to their love. Feeling so much like a school girl in one of those cliché romance novels in the aftermath of it all.

"Yes." He ran his hand over the smooth carving in the wood. Tom and Harry. Harry and Tom. Together forever. Undying. "I remember. That day. Those few days, when you first took me here." A hawk screamed off in the distance. He turned his green eyes to Tom. "You know that I love you. That I'm grateful for all that you've done for me. And that I'm sorry for all I've put you through. Don't you?"

"Harry." Tom propped his chin on top of his head. "You don't need to apologize to me for anything. Ever. And yes, I do know."

The raven rested his head against his chest, listening to the steady ticking of his heart. "I don't deserve you."

"You, my love, deserve nothing less than me. I am the best after all."

He couldn't keep a grin off his face in the wake of that comment.

"Now, I'll go and get the canoe we left floating in the middle of the lake. I need to head back to the nearest town to collect the necessary supplies for tomorrow's dinner and would prefer not to be on the road after dark if possible. There's a lot of deer out here and hitting one…not a pretty or a safe experience. I'll call you over once I've got it to shore."

"I'll be there right away." He promised. Tom smiled and moved away, leaving Harry alone and staring at the trunk of the softly swaying willow tree.