"What's Rufus up to?" Lucy asked Jiya. "He looked like a kid in a candy store when he called Wyatt over." They were stood in the kitchen emptying a couple of packs of Chocodiles onto a Millennium Falcon shaped serving platter.
"Oh, you'll want to see this. It's the other present I got him. He's been dying for Wyatt to come over so they can play…" She gestured her over to the French windows where they could see the men on the other side of the pool.
"What's up man? Hey are those… are they lightsabers?" a wide eyed grin stretched across Wyatt's face as spied the contents of the box Rufus had been holding. In it were two black and chrome torch shaped hilts. They looked just like the real thing, or what he imagined was the real thing.
Rufus nodded, his own giant grin threatening to rip up to his ears. "Jiya and some of the guys at the office made them as a surprise. They are off the charts! Here, take it" he handed one of them to Wyatt and then took a couple of steps back. "Press the button on the end"
Wyatt adjusted his grip on the weighty metal unit and pushed with his thumb. "Holy fuck!" A luminescent beam of green light shot out accompanied by a swoosh, and shone about 3 feet forward from the base. It looked almost solid. It looked exactly like the movies. This WAS the real thing! His grin came back full force as he held the lightsaber up and moved it about. Even the sound of buzzing as it cut through the air was perfect. "Rufus, this is amazing! Jiya made these?" Of course he'd always known how brilliant Jiya was but these were just incredible.
"I know right. They're frickin awesome. My girl is frickin awesome." A second swoosh filled the air as Rufus turned on his own lightsaber casting out a 3 foot beam of bright blue. "We gotta have a fight with these babies, man." Quickly he cut across Wyatt's blade with his own. The units emitted a crashing sound as the two beams crossed and the hilts vibrated in their hands as they touched. The two men momentarily stilled, awestruck. "No fricking way!" Rufus's eyes bulged and Wyatt let out an excited chuckle as they each looked down at the lightsaber in their hand.
In the next second Wyatt swept his blade in a quick arc and crashed it into Rufus' sending vibrations through their hands once more. Rufus took a step back and then lunged forward but Wyatt was too quick, and blocked his attack with a parry. In response, Rufus swung his blade high, bringing it down fast and cutting through the green beam.
Lucy and Jiya watched the two men shift back and forth across the yard, grunts mixed with laughter accompanying the flailing of their arms as they duelled. It was like looking at a pair of schoolboys and the two women smiled as they watched the men they loved enjoying themselves. It occurred to Lucy that she'd seen Wyatt fighting countless times before, but never with a big smile on his face. He looked magnificent, and she couldn't wait to get him alone later that night./p
It happened in slow motion.
Wyatt lunged with his blade. Rufus took a large step backwards. Lucy and Jiya cried out. Wyatt reached for Rufus' arm, but missed. Rufus stumbled back and bumped into a large solid object. That object yelped. And in the next second Mason was in the pool his wig bobbing on the surface.
"What the bloody hell!?" he sputtered incredulously as water drained from his nose and onto the moustache which had slipped and was now dangling from his nostril and across his cheek.
Rufus looked mortified and repeatedly apologised as he vainly attempted to fish out the waterlogged hairpiece with one hand, the lightsaber still buzzing in his other. Wyatt though, having established that Mason was unhurt, save for his pride, was doubled over laughing. Catching Denise's eye as he looked up gasping for breath, he saw that she was stifling back a giggle of her own.
In the commotion, Jiya popped upstairs and returned just as Connor was dragging himself and his dripping cape from the water. She tossed him a towel and Rufus's robe. "Why don't you put that on and I'll pop your clothes in the dryer. They shouldn't take too long. There's a bathroom in the hall where you can change. Rufus, you can use my hairdryer to sort the wig once you've got it out of the pool."
"Hey by the way" Rufus whispered quietly in her ear as Connor headed off to the bathroom, "we're burning that robe later. I'm not wearing it after Mason's had his ballbag rubbing on it." He shuddered. Jiya thwacked him playfully on the chest and followed Connor to the house.