July 2004

Dean was rudely awoken on a Saturday morning with a thump in the head from a pillow. He groaned and pulled his blanket over his head. He heard Seamus laugh, "Accio!" and the blanket whipped away from his body.

"Shaaaaaaaaay." Dean whined pathetically.

"Get up, get up, get up!" Seamus encouraged as Peanut came scrambling down the hallway. She always picked up on tones of excitement and got herself overexcited in the process. She jumped up onto the bed and first ran toward Seamus at the end of the bed, then to Dean. Peanut sniffed at him with her wet nose, sending chills through him. "No, Peanut. Bad. Down." He said irritably. Peanut jumped down and sat on the floor on his side of the bed and barked resolutely at him.

"Even Peanut agrees with me. It's time to get out of bed."

"One more hour."

"Not a chance." Seamus said, flicking his wand quietly. He had done his best to practice unspoken spells. His job as an auror effectively required it, and he had failed on more than one occasion to use them when needed. But this time he was successful, and was able to use magic to physically knock Dean out of bed. He fell on his rear and shot Seamus a cold look. "What on earth did you need to get me out of bed for at …" He turned to look at his bedside clock, "Eleven in the morning on a Saturday?" He groaned as he finally stood, now towering over Seamus instead of looking up at him.

"Because it's a beautiful day today. The sun will be out, no clouds in the sky, no chance of rain. A mild breeze. No humidity. It's the perfect day to go to the beach. And I've been itching to go. Will you go with me and Peanut to the beach Dean? Please?" Seamus asked with puppy dog eyes that matched Peanut's precisely.

Dean laughed a bit and smiled, "Of course. But you could have been a little more polite about it, instead of throwing me out of bed. Literally." He complained as he got up.

"But then it's not fun!" Seamus teased. He grabbed Dean's hand and pulled himself closer to him to give him his good morning kiss. On a whim, Dean kissed back a little heavier than he usually would. Seamus pulled away, "Nice try. Not even that is going to get you back in bed now." He laughed pecked Dean's cheek before heading back out of the bedroom, but not before calling back to him down the hall, "Best get your trunks on, Peanut's impatient. I'm walking out the door in ten minutes with or without ye."

Dean rolled his eyes to himself, knowing Seamus was not serious. But he nonetheless changed out of his loose fitting pyjama shorts into his swim trunks. It was rare that they ever went on excursions like this. But every once in awhile, like today, it was just the kind of day that required going to the beach. He grabbed a couple of towels and sunscreen, packing them up in their "sand bag" that they used exclusively for such excursions. It usually always had a fine layer of sand at the bottom of it, hence the name. He shouldered the bag and followed the overexcited Seamus and Peanut out the front door. Seamus carefully transfigured Peanut into a pocket watch. It usually proves difficult to apparate with a dog, so it was easier to transfigure. Dean held out his arm as Seamus held tight to the pocket watch dog. The minute his hand was firmly over Dean's arm they felt a tug and pull behind their navel as they were sucked from one place to the next.

After a loud popping sound, they landed easily on the quiet shore off the English channel. Dean had come here once a long time ago with a primary school chum and his family. It was one of the quietest beaches he had ever been to. It was a small beach to be sure, and far enough out of the way that few ever appeared. Seamus put the pocket watch in the sand and transfigured Peanut back into her regular dog form. She barked up at him with delight, none the wiser that she had been inanimate for a brief period. Peanut looked about excitedly and started running straight for the water. Seamus raced after the dog as Dean tried to shout out that he still needed sunscreen.

But it was no use, Seamus just wanted to play with his dog. Dean grumbled as he rolled out their towels on the sand, "Pasty white boy's gonna regret it." Unlike Seamus, Dean took time to actually put on sunblock. He had no desire to get skin cancer. By the time he got to the water, Seamus had already retrieved a frisbee from seemingly nowhere. "Look, someone just left it here." Seamus explained with a big grin, tossing it into the water for Peanut. Seamus was already up to his hips in the water and was throwing closer to the shallows for Peanut, who couldn't swim very well. She thrashed around in the water toward the frisbee and caught it eagerly, running up to Dean with it. He grabbed the wet frisbee and threw it onto the sand for her.

"You're going to get burned." Dean said matter-of-factly toward Seamus.

"Am not." Seamus insisted like a child.

"Don't come crying to me when you're beat red and peeling." Dean said irritably as the dog returned with the disc. He tossed it for her again before heading into the cold water. He cringed a little as it reached up his legs. He hated that feeling so much. Seamus laughed at Dean's wince and couldn't help but splash him. Dean looked over his shoulder and shot him a glare. "Oh cheer up, Dean. No need to be so sour."

In truth, Dean was unsure why he was irritated by every little thing. Perhaps his job had grinded him down to nothing but a nub that felt nothing but anger. He certainly had little else but anger toward his job these days. He was sick of being told what to create. He wanted to draw and paint what he liked, not have to make advertisements. But he recognized that he should be leaving these frustrations at work, not bringing them home with him. And certainly not bringing them to the beach. Dean groaned, frustrated with himself, and fell forward into the water. The cold shocked his system quickly, forcing himself to adjust to the temperature quickly. He swam forward a little under the water, his eyes open. His mother always yelled at him not to do it, but he loved it. He never had vision problems and it was funny to see how blurry things were under water. He popped back out of the water, the water now up to his shoulders where he stood.

Seamus was swimming toward him, but when he reached him he couldn't touch without dipping under the water. He pouted, "Why d'you have to be so damn tall?"

"Oh, quit your whining, I got you." Dean said with a smile as he pulled Seamus even closer, holding him by his hips. Seamus got the idea and wrapped himself around Dean, legs over his hips and arms around his shoulders. Dean was easily able to hold on to him in the weightless water. Seamus giggled playfully, "There, you feeling better?"

"It's hard not to be happy with you being such a goof." Dean said honestly, leaning in to kiss Seamus innocently. But what started out as a trivial peck of the lips turned into something Seamus had seen coming a mile away. The proximity, the feeling of floating, and the small amount of warmth shared between their bodies caused them to become totally enraptured with each other. Kisses deepened, teeth displayed, tongues used. It took the sound of Peanut barking to alert them back to the real world and pull away from each other. Seamus turned and looked toward shore to see their dog chasing several seagulls across the sand.

"Oh thank god. I thought someone had showed up."

"Would that have been a problem?" Dean asked with a little laugh.

Seamus turned back to Dean with a smirk, "What if it had been an old little lady? I think the sight of two men snogging in the middle of the sea may have given an old lady a heart attack."

"Oh, you worry too much." Dean said, going to kiss him again.

"No, no, no. No more. Later." Seamus insisted, unwinding his body from around Dean's and instead treading in the water beside him.

"Why?" Dean whined like a child.

"Because, if ye keep it up like that I'll have to nail ye right there on the beach and that's not a good idea for a host of reasons. So — later." Seamus declared as he started swimming to shore. Dean couldn't help but laugh as he walked behind Seamus, following him. He caught the frisbee on his way and tossed it again for Peanut who had scared all the gulls away. The two lovebirds finally made it ashore and Seamus plopped straight onto the ground and started playing in the sand. "What are you doing Shay?" Dean asked as Peanut bounded toward him, sand flying every which way, and handing him the disc.

"Building a sandy Hogwarts of course."

Dean let out an unattractive laugh as he tossed the disc down the beach for the dog. "You think you can make a sand version of Hogwarts?"

"Ye think I can't?" Seamus challenged with a glimmer in his eyes. Dean couldn't help but grin, he loved this man child. He was so cute when he was playful like this.

Dean tossed the disc a few more times with Peanut before Seamus chimed in, "Why aren't you helping me out?"

"I don't think Peanut will let me." Dean said as he tossed the frisbee for the tenth time.

"Oh if ye just stop throwing she'll stop. Come on, help me out. You're the artist." Seamus insisted, patting the sand beside him. Dean sat down as Peanut raced back to him. She dropped the toy in front of him and wagged her tail expectantly. "All done, Peanut. No more." She watched him patiently as he started to help Seamus build up the structure. When five minutes passed without him picking up the frisbee Peanut whined and wandered off along the beach. The castle was as difficult to recreate with sand as Dean had expected. They ended up only building a few of the towers and the great hall, rather than recreate the whole massive complex. They easily got the general shape built, but it was the details that they struggled with. Neither of them realized how much time was passing as they were building the castle.

After the fifth time of lobbing off the top of a tower to redo the style of the roof tiles, Dean was starting to get frustrated. Seamus was getting equally pissy with the windows he tried to carve into the sand with his fingernails. They all ended up too wobbly. Finally, Seamus groaned in frustration, "It's not worth it." He stood with his hands in fists at his side. He gave Dean a knowing look before smashing his foot through the sand castle. Dean smiled and joined in the destruction. Even Peanut ran over to see what the fuss was about and jumped all over the sand with them until the castle was no more.

Once the castle had been sufficiently destroyed, Dean happened to glance up at the blue sky and notice the sun had sunk quite dramatically. "We should probably head on home, Shay." He recommended as his eyes shifted from the sky to his boyfriend. He burst into laughter, "Oh yeah, we definitely need to go home. You're red as tomato." Seamus looked down at his arms and frowned, "Aww man. I was really hoping it would just tan a little."

"Well it's a bit late for that. C'mon, let's get you home." Dean suggested. He walked over to wear he had laid their things and grabbed his towel, dusting off the sand that coated most of his body. He tossed Seamus his wand that he had left in the area, and Seamus quickly transfigured Peanut back into a pocket watch. Dean rolled up their towels and ran back to Seamus, who already had his arm out for him.

With a swift pop they landed in their back garden. "Oh, remind me to water these poor things tomorrow." Seamus said immediately when he saw the state of his plants. Dean headed inside as Seamus brought Peanut back to her doggie self. He held the door open for Peanut to race in, like she always did. After cleaning up and a quick change into something dry, Dean sat down with Seamus in the living room, slathering a orange paste on his back and shoulders.

"Ooh, ow, ow, ah, OW!"

"This is what you get for not listening to me."

"Yeah yeah, shut up nurse Thomas."