Waterslides and Real Life

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. The sun was shining. The weatherman had predicted the day was going to reach a full 29 degrees. And thanks to a brilliant idea from Matilda, eight highly excited young adults were sitting, crushed against one another, inside of Edd's mother's red van, and pulling into the car park of Water World at nearly 10 in the morning.

"This was a brilliant idea," Ell said happily as they made their way through the queue, rummaging in her printed canvas bag in search for her sunglasses.

"And expensive," Edd muttered under his breath, also searching in his rucksack, though in his case it was for money rather than shades. "But you know, whatever."

The queue was long. Exceptionally long, in fact. There were almost a dozen people in front of their group, and several more behind. The procession shuffled forward once again, just as Edd found a wad of bills. He, Tom, Matt, and Tord had all offered to pay for the group a week ago, and the girls were quick to accept, using their own money to, unsurprisingly, go shopping for clothes.

Still, it wasn't as though any of the boys were going to complain. Not too much, anyway. After all, there were now four very pretty girls in only their swimming clothes and coverups, and even better yet for the boys, they were all theirs for an entire day of sun, swimming, and very minimally covered skin. In all honesty, that was a pretty decent trade for a few quid.

The group eventually made their way into the park, buffeted by a few others, clinging to their towels and bags and each other, and were greeted by the wondrous sight of a huge wave pool surrounded by sand. It almost made them forget they were in the middle of England.

"Off," Tori ordered, tugging on Matt's t-shirt the moment the group found a place on the fake beach with enough of the white plastic lounge chairs to accommodate them. Obediently, Matt did so, throwing the dark shirt on top of the pile of canvas and clothing that was their bags. Humming, Tori embraced the tall ginger, making him shudder and grin with pleasure a little as she ran her fingers up and down his spine. Tamara gagged at this show of suggestive affection, pointing into her mouth for emphasis, then at a goading grin from Tori, stuck out her tongue and turned and kissed a suddenly very flustered Edd.

"What should we do first?" Tord asked, taking a hold of Ell's hand. When she turned to look at him, he lifted it to scarred lips and kissed it very gently, hardly concealing a laugh as he watched her face turn bright red. Instead of pulling away as he had expected however, she flung her arms over his shoulders and put her face right up to his, making his grey eyes go wide.

"Water slides," she said simply, sliding her hands down his arms and pulling him off in the direction of the rides. Laughing, the rest followed, enjoying the warm sun on their bare skin. Edd and Tom were still wearing shirts over their swimming trunks, and Ell and Tamara were the same way with their cover-ups. Tom grinned slyly at Matilda and put a hand around her waist, pulling her, chuckling, closer to him.

The slide was gigantic - full of twists and turns, part of it going near vertical. The entrance was high above them, and people screamed as the floor dropped out from under them, sending them into the wild, twisting depths.

Matilda, who had only a moment before been excited, and giggling at Tom's advances, shivered as the group passed under the huge morning shadow cast across the concrete by the slide. Tom looked at her with growing concern as she gripped his arm the closer they got to the front of the long queue. "You alright?" he asked, knowing the answer. She nodded jerkily, jaw clenched and manicured fingernails digging into his pale skin. He winced, but did nothing more than free his limb and enfold the ginger in an embrace, pressing his face to her hair.

"Mattie, are you scared?" Tamara asked, watching her friend with wide, empty eyes.

"No?" she squeaked, the uncertain tone completely undermining the answer.

"Want to go with me?" Tom asked her, speaking into her ear. She was silent for a few moments before squeezing the taller man and nodding against his chest.

"In that case, come with me too," Tamara said brightly, turning to Edd. He smiled vaguely and nodded. Her face, he was thinking dreamily, was so clear when she wasn't drunk, it was absolutely staggering. She looked so different. Like a new soul…

While Edd was lost in his daydreams, Tamara pulled him forward do that they were standing on the drop floor. Matilda watched with trepidation as Edd yelped the moment the hatch opened, dropping them into the slide with screams of excitement. Tom, noticing, held her tighter, and began shuffling forward awkwardly. Tori and Matt went next, clinging onto one another like crabs to a child's finger.

The teenage park attendant looked at Tom and Matilda curiously as they made their way to the slide entrance, his hand on the lever. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Tom asked Matilda one last time. And again, she nodded against his chest after a moment of frozen hesitancy, her eyes clenched shut. Tom looked at the attendant and nodded before saying once again, softly into her ear, "It'll be okay."

"I know it will, Tommy. I'm with you."

And the world dropped out from under their feet, sending them plummeting into a dark world of twists and turns, unexpected drops, exhilarating speed, splashing water, shrill screaming that gave way to laughter, and a lot of real, true, unconditional love.

And as Tom sat several hours - and dozens of water slides - later, watching as Tord slathered Aloe Vera across Ell's sunburned back, as Edd read a book aloud to a half asleep Tamara, as Tori lay on top of Matt, who was wearing her sun hat, he thought. And as Matilda sighed against his chest, her eyes closed and a smile unhidden on her slightly sunburned and freckled face, Tom understood.

Honestly, a water slide really kind of was a teeny tiny, little bit like real life.

A/N If you didn't get my Undertale reference... Get out. Just, get out XD JK I love y'all. This was a fun write. It was pretty short first draft though, only about 700 words. Sooooo... Details! Enjoy. Send me a request or prompt, plz my dudes!

Also, please note that this entire story is written for entertainment. When Edd passed away, the characters of Eddsworld became just those; characters. They were no longer extensions of their real life counterparts. I in no way ship any of these characters together in real life. Those are real people, and I don't think that the, er, dregs of the EW fandom realize that. Matt Hargreaves has said that none of the characters are in canon relationships. None of them are gay, none of them are shipped together for real within the canon universe. I write this story and other stories purely for entertainment. In real life, I totally ship Matt with his real wife, Katy (they're adorable, holy crap). I totally ship Tom with just current girlfriend, Charlie. These are real people and get to make their own decisions. This ship-fic is exactly that, fanfiction. It's not real. And it never will be. And that's a good thing.
I will shut up now. I'm so sorry. XD

This was a request from a guest. They asked for a beach scene "or something like that" XD So I did "something like that". Enjoy my bro XD