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Byleth quite childishly pouts about the possibility that he might not be correct in his biases. It's... endearing, perhaps, and Dedue appreciates that he feels this way out of protectiveness, bothered by the fact that others do not view his student in the same light as hm.

He shakes his head, as though dismissing all of these thoughts from it. "It does not matter, anyway. My appearance has no bearing on how well I can serve His Highness."

Neither a sword nor shield needs to be handsome to do its job. Though he was never a handsome shield, he can suppose that when he was younger, he was at least an unblemished one; the war has not been kind to his appearance. A simple fact that he acknowledges every time he looks in a mirror.

"Do not concern yourself overmuch with it, Professor. It does not bother me."

"I won't press any further but I firmly assert that I am correct in this. If I were Dimitri I would jump at the chance to be with you." Even if he wasn't Dimitri, but he's going to lay off on it for now.

Best to distract him.

"Come on. Come swimming with me. Can you believe they have a pool on a boat?" It seems silly, but also brilliant. You usually want to be on a boat to avoid getting wet... but either way, he's already pulling Dedue away from the railing toward the pool, taking off his own shirt, already in swim trunks as shorts.

That's... what Byleth said is a very strange thing, not just because he's making a lot of assumptions about His Highness' feelings towards Dedue, but also because it implies that he would initiate a romantic relationship with him, if he felt as though he were in the position to do so. Having never seen any such indications of Byleth's interest before now, it's jarring for him to say it so plainly. And then to just move on from it, too, as though he had said nothing stranger than a comment on the weather.

And now he wants to go swimming. Is it a distraction, so that they do not discuss what he's said? Since Dedue has no idea how he would go about addressing... that, he'll take it for what it is-- an end to that conversation.

"I do recall hearing that there is one," he says, following after the Professor. He is similarly prepared for water by wearing his swimming trunks-- since they are going to the islands, it seemed prudent to wear something that wouldn't be ruined by getting wet. He's a little less enthused about getting undressed than Byleth, but it does appear to be the custom here.

He steps into the pool at the shallow end; the water is pleasantly cool, and far more temperate than the lakes and ponds in Faerghus. Those could stay frigid until midsummer, though that didn't seem to stop many of the Faerghan boys from taking a swim.

"I do not believe that I ever saw you swim at the monastery."

There was the pond, though Byleth only ever seemed to use that for fishing, not for swimming, even during the summer.

"I was too busy. Plus the fish pond wasn't exactly suited for it. I did go to the river in the summer some days, but I usually went alone." See: always. A good portion of his time at the monastery had been somewhat solitary until he really started to get attached to his students. Now he can hardly stand to be apart from them. The year after the war had been a special kind of new, horrible torture. Surrounded by people, and yet feeling alone without his people. Left to sort through the mental wreck he was. No Jeralt, very few of his friends close at hand, and countless new responsibilities and expectations to keep him constantly moving. The business was probably the saving grace that kept him out of his own head enough to not have a breakdown.

He hits the water with a splash, surfacing seconds later, his hair hanging down over his eyes. He looks... weird. Like seeing a very fluffy cat get wet.

"Oh- the temperature is perfect. You must try this." He says, scraping wet bangs out of his eyes.

Byleth splashes into the water, apparently deciding that the best way to acclimatize to the temperature is to just rip off the bandage and jump right in. There are some merits to the shock approach, perhaps. When he surfaces again, his hair is plastered down onto his face and he has to swipe at it to clear his eyes. It's an endearing thing.

Dedue enters the pool at a much more sedate rate, stepping in until the water reaches his hips. He'll have to go quite far before the water reaches anywhere high on him, but that's fine.

"It is quite pleasant," he replies. "Please be careful, though. You will burn more quickly in the water."

Because Byleth is about as tan as white bread. Dedue, of course, will have no issues with the increasingly intense sunlight, but the dragon pope has no such defenses.

"Ah, that's right. The lady told me to get this lotion for that." He wades over to the side of the pool where his pile of things lay, rummaging for the small bottle of sunscreen. Popping up to sit on the side of the pool to start applying it to everywhere he can reasonably reach.

"Ah- could you put some on my back, Dedue?" It's an entirely innocent ask, as the idea of having Dedue's massive hands on him hasn't quite sunk in as incredibly appealing as it will be in a moment.

Byleth slathers some of the lotion onto his skin, rubbing it in to protect himself from the sun. There is, of course, a portion of his back that he can't easily reach without doing some odd and uncomfortable contortions, so it's reasonable to ask his companion to get those places for him. Dedue wades over to where Byleth stands, and takes the little bottle to squeeze some out onto his fingers.

He dabs the cream onto sections of Byleth's back and a little at the nape of his neck, then rubs it in until it disappears into his skin. It's mostly the middle of his back that he wouldn't be able to easily reach, so Dedue focuses on evenly covering that area. The faint scent of pineapple and coconut hangs in the air around Byleth, sort of making him smell like a fake pina colada.

"There." He turns the bottle around so that he can read the directions printed on it. "You will need to reapply it later, as it will be washed off as you swim."

Oh... hmm. That is nice actually. He finds his eyes slide shut at the feeling of warm hands on his back. It's brief though, and that's- it's fine. He turns, nodding to Dedue.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to remember that." He will not.

It's only then that he just happens to glance down and- oh dear Sothis???? That is. That sure is a thing. Down there. In the water. Now that his shorts are wet there's really just. No hiding that? His lips draw a tight line and he has to force himself to avert his gaze lest to bore a hole right through those tragically thin swim trunks.

"...Swimming." That's. All he says before he just falls back into the water and decides now is a good time to try to dive to the bottom.

Byleth turns and thanks him, and then... his gaze sort of drifts, moving down towards the water and then abruptly averting again. It's a very strange sort of reaction, especially because when Dedue glances down, there's nothing particularly notable.

The Professor then just... drops into the water and disappears, leaving his former student confused with a bottle of sunscreen in hand. There he goes.

Dedue supposes that he'll wait for Byleth to resurface, then. He can only hold his breath down there for so long, right?

Unfortunately for him, Byleth cannot stay under the water forever, and he does eventually surface, hair plastered to his face once again. He flicks a little water at Dedue, seeming to want to distract him. Both of them, actually.

"Want to race? Loser buys a round of drinks?" He asks this, now floating on his back as he very gently kicks his way by Dedue again.

Byleth proposes a race when he finally resurfaces, with the addition of a penalty for the loser-- a round of drinks, hardly anything difficult for either of their pocketbooks. A safe bet.

"Very well. You should come over here, then, so that we can start evenly."

Byleth doesn't get a head start just because he's smaller.

He nods, kicking his way over to join Dedue at the edge of the pool then. He expects no head starts! Even if he is like. A full head shorter than Dedue.

"Okay. When you are ready." He waits for Deude to indicate as such, before starting the count down.

"Three. Two. One- Go!" At which point he slips under water and pushes off as hard as he can to try to propel himself a ways before having to have to come to the surface and swim the rest of it.

Byleth counts down to the start of the race, and Dedue readies himself to spring into action. One might expect that, upon hearing go, he would attempt to swim as quickly as he could-- one would be incorrect. Instead, his hand snaps out and closes around Byleth's ankle, wrangling him back within arm's reach. Then he gets an arm around his waist and hauls him up against his side like he's holding a football. Contained-- one professor.

Dedue wades out into the pool towards their designated finish, Byleth still held securely. If the professor even attempts to struggle, he will find that his flailing is ineffective at best. Dedue has found that the lack of Crests in this world significantly bridges the gap that used to exist in terms of strength; Byleth, like Dimitri, is now but a mere mortal man. Dedue can make it roughly halfway before the water starts to become too deep to comfortably walk in, and at that point he stops, adjusts his grip on Byleth, and throws him like a sack of grain back towards the shallow end of the pool.

With that head start, and Byleth yeeted back towards the starting line, he has a significant advantage in making it to the finish first.

For all his skills and talents, Byleth simply was not expecting this. He gives a garbled squawk when Dedue grabs him, wriggling and squirming in his grasp while he's toted along. He really is completely powerless in this case. Given that his powers no longer exist here he only has the strength of his natural build, and compared to Dedue? Not happening.

"Dedue?!" He manages as he's hefted up, just in time to be tossed like a sack of potatoes back towards the other end of the pool. Have you ever heard the Professor shriek?

Now you have.

He lands with a splash, surfacing seconds later, sputtering and spitting out water. By the time he manages his way back, Dedue has long since won.

"Seriously!"

By the time Byleth makes it to the finish, Dedue has certainly won and is, in fact, sitting on the edge of the pool, watching him come in. His feet dip into the pool casually, as though he hadn't just horribly... sort-of cheated at their race.

"Indeed. It would appear that I have won."

Byleth didn't stipulate any rules to their race, like non-interference. He only has himself to blame for losing.

"By our agreement, you owe a round of drinks."

At first he kind of huffs, but honestly it was... really quite clever. A part of him is very proud of Dedue for that. So the smile creeps back up his face quickly.

"Cheeky." He says, amused.

"Very well. A round of drinks for a very clever man." He's still going to give Dedue a little splash though. "What will the others think when they find out you threw the professor like a shotput?"

It's clever because it's so unexpected of him-- something that Dedue cannot take advantage of too many times. Even so, there is some satisfaction to be had, mostly because the professor is not upset at him for his underhanded tactic.

"If I am permitted to make a request, I would like the drink that has pineapple in it."

If, of course, Byleth is willing to entertain a request from the victor. Tropical fruits are incredibly rare back in Fodlan-- having them in something as frivolous as an alcoholic drink is a surprising luxury.

"I would imagine that they would think it quite a tall tale, Professor."

"You are permitted to request anything you like, Dedue." He nudges the man as he pulls himself out and goes to fetch some towels.

"Ahh you're saying nobody would believe me? Perhaps you are right." It's an amusing revelation honestly, he's mostly just delighted that Dedue finds himself comfortable enough to be cheeky with him. It kind of feels like an honor.

"I suppose it is something I will have to live with for eternity, in that case." More or less, this will be a fond memory. "I'll be back with some drinks."

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