At one point chapter 4 had 33 hits and no reviews. I can't say I was terribly happy about that. I'm dreadfully insecure, and thus quickly became paranoid that the previous three chapters' apparent quality fell into the toilet, which is why I came out with a nonsensical crossover (which wasn't even funny) before I could write any more of this (well, I did write one scene, then realised it was about three chapters too early). If it did (or does), can you please tell me so I have some idea of what to do?
Also, getting into the head of a straight woman who is having sexual thoughts is tricky when you're a romantic lesbian with a fairly low libido. Nina is a dirty old lady.
"I apologise for Robbie, Mama, he's a bit prickly at times," Sportacus said in Fey.
"That's quite all right. I don't always feel like company either."
There was a pause. "What do you want to do now?" he asked.
"I think I saw a lake to the west from the train."
"You want to go swimming? That's a great idea. Shall I go invite my friends?
"That's a good idea. That way I can meet them all at once. I'll go put my things away, you go find them and I'll meet you here in ... oh, half an hour?"
"I'll see you then."
Sportacus made the rounds and all his young friends agreed readily. The weather was quite warm, after all. Robbie was a more difficult prospect.
"Go swimming as a group? Do you not remember me storming past fifteen minutes ago and practically snubbing your mother?" he asked incredulously.
"I was hoping you'd calmed down. Besides, swimming trunks."
Robbie sat up straight. "Okay, you talked me into it."
Sportacus arrived at the park when the half hour was up to discover Stephanie had taken 'changing' a little more literally than the other kids. They'd all put their ordinary clothes, or at least their t-shirts, back on on top of their swimming things. Stephanie's outfit consisted of a pink bikini and a tiny aqua sarong that was, amazingly, shorter than her ordinary skirt. He clamped down on the protective urge to tell her to put some more clothes on before Pixel caught sight of her, and checked the children all had towels and drinking water.
"We all ready?" he asked. There was a chorus of affirmatives.
"Let's go then," Sportacus said, and they set off.
"Wait a second!" Robbie objected. "We're walking? All the way to the lake?"
"Well, how else are we going to get there?" Stephanie asked. "Besides, it will only take ten minutes."
Robbie sighed. "Good point," he said, and joined the back of the group.
Pixel had to admit that Stephanie looked hot, especially dripping wet, but the sight was somewhat ruined by Sportacus's not-so-veiled threat that morning. Nina was hot for an old lady, which he felt rather odd about anyway, and then he couldn't imagine Sportacus would be any less protective of his mom. Mind you, he wasn't the only one taking advantage of the smaller quantity of clothing.
So far he'd noticed Trixie and Robbie not-so-subtly checking out Sportacus (Pixel still couldn't believe that Robbie hadn't realised how obvious he was), and Nina checking out Robbie (tough luck there, lady).
He was resting on the bank with his feet in the water when he noticed something else. Sportacus had almost-invisible half-moon scars along the lower edge of both his pecs. 'I wonder what happened there? They look ... surgical,' he thought, and grabbed his wrist computer to discreetly record the marks for further analysis.
Nina couldn't fault Alex's taste in men. Granted, he was surly for a human, and a little softer around the middle than she would consider for herself, but he had a nice butt, and seemed a good balance for Alex. She wondered how long it would take Alex to tell her that Robbie was his lover. She also wondered how old the dark young man with the orange hair was, because he was tasty.
She sat down beside him on the bank. "What are you up to?" she asked when she noticed he was fiddling with his wrist computer thing.
"Just saving some data for later analysis," he replied absently.
"I see. Banana?" she asked, holding out the banana she'd gotten from the picnic basket before sitting down.
"No, thank you. Aren't you supposed to not swim for an hour after eating, or something?"
"Ah, yes, humans are rather prone to muscle cramps, aren't you? I forgot about that, apologies," Nina said, and peeled the banana herself. She was quite hungry, but when she realised what shape the sports candy she held was, couldn't resist playing. She licked the tip, took the tiniest bite off the end, and then glanced sideways at him. His colouring was too dark for her to be sure of a blush, but he did look flustered. She took another small bite, and licked her lips obviously, savouring both the sweet creamy taste and his reaction. He squirmed, dashed over to his backpack to put the computer away, then raced back into the water until he was up to his waist. She grinned into the banana. She still had it.