The grass whipped against them painfully, the hard, rough ends scratching their arms as they ran through the field. Rudy was shirtless, and Linus found himself wondering how he managed to keep going without wanting to put his shirt back on. Welts were already forming in dark pink scratches on his skin. The edge of the field couldn't have come soon enough, and they emerged from the ocean of yellow to see the dark creek that Neil had promised them.

Linus pushed his blonde hair out of his face, it was sweaty and sticking to his forehead. Rudy flashed a brilliant white grin at him, and he found himself smiling back despite the uncomfortable heat bearing down on his chest. Neil stripped his own shirt off, plunging headfirst into the creek and then surfacing, shaking his head so the water sprayed from his hair. He grinned at Linus.

"You've still got your glasses on, you idiot!" Rudy called, trotting down the edge of the creek, leaving shoes and socks in his wake as he did so.

"Of course I've got my glasses on, I can't see without them." Neil said, giving Rudy a condescending look. It wasn't very effective, given that water was dripping down his hair into his eyes.

Linus turned, seeing Patrick finally make his way out of the field. He was panting and sweating. Linus felt bad for him, he wasn't as in shape as Rudy or Neil were (well, it was difficult to be in as good shape as those two), and always seemed to be coming up last. Linus sympathised. Though Patrick was overweight, Linus himself had always been skinny and nonathletic as well. Patrick was always lagging behind, and Linus knew how that felt. He smiled at Patrick, to reassure him, before walking toward where Rudy and Neil were now lounging on the edge of the creek.

He sat down, wiping his hair out of his face again and sitting under the shade of the large oak tree near the water. Neil and Rudy liked to be in the sun, he supposed they had a desire to tan (though they'd never admit as such. Boys weren't supposed to care about that sort of thing, supposedly.) As he watched the other two talking happily, he felt for a moment that Rudy and Neil could have been brothers. They had similar looks... handsome, tan, black hair, black eyes, and athletic build. They were both already shaving on a regular basis, while Linus only had to shave every week or so. They seemed larger than life, perfect hair, brilliant smiles, flawless teeth, intelligent, athletic, popular, generous, kind. Linus felt a rush of affection for the both of them, as Neil pushed his messy hair out of his eyes and splashed water at Rudy, who promptly snatched the glasses right off Neil's nose.

Linus grinned and looked to Patrick. They were lucky to be included, he decided. Patrick laughed as Rudy tossed him the glasses, expecting to play a game of keep-away from Neil. Patrick, of course, was quite nice at heart, and it was obvious that he felt Neil was a closer friend to him than Rudy, and handed them back to Neil.

"You're such a spoilsport," Rudy said, tossing his hair from his eyes and looking quite irritated.

"No he's not, he's just a better friend than you," Neil indulged Patrick with an approving smile. Patrick grinned and tucked his dirty-blonde hair behind his ears. He was growing it out, Linus had noticed. He doubted Rudy had realized, but it seemed that Patrick was attempting the same hairstyle as him. It looked nice, but Linus felt that, unfortunately, it wouldn't help Patrick much in getting girlfriends. Rudy was more than just good-looking with nice hair, he was charismatic and exciting. Patrick was shy and awkward, much the way Linus was.

"Yeah right!" Rudy said, a look of disbelief on his face. Linus wet his lips, knowing that the comment would have hurt Patrick's feelings. He wouldn't show it, of course, he didn't usually. Not to Neil and Rudy, at least. Still, he had the feeling that Rudy knew that the comment would hurt Patrick's feelings, anyway.

"Hey, didn't you go out with Angela this weekend?" Rudy asked, giving Neil a questioning look.

Neil stood up, water sluicing from his body as he clambered the few feet onto shore. "Why yes, as a matter of fact, I did." He said, giving a mockingly lofty expression.

"I can't believe you actually took her out." Rudy said. Linus lifted his eyebrows. The girl was sweet... good-looking, certainly. Her fatal flaw was really that she was... not exactly the quickest individual in the school. Neil could certainly find a girl who was smart enough to keep up with him, but he didn't seem particularly interested in finding an equal. He was mostly interested in finding someone who would let him cop a feel.

"She has great tits." Neil said simply.

Rudy laughed loudly, the sound echoing for a moment before he spoke. "But she's so dumb!" He exclaimed.

"But she has great tits! Amazing, in fact!" Neil grinned, the sun reflecting off his glasses.

"Yeah, great. Maybe she's keeping all her brains there." Rudy said, sarcastically.

"Perhaps I can help her discover how to use those brains..." Neil pondered.

Linus laughed uncomfortably. He'd never really felt part of the conversations about girls. He'd gotten used to hearing them, of course, but he always had the nagging feeling that a lot of what his friends said was slightly disrespectful to the girls in question. They didn't mean to be... but he didn't think that the girls would appreciate it.

"Did you see them?" Patrick asked, an eager look on his face.

"Oh, pipe down!" Rudy said, tossing grass in Patrick's direction. "The interest of a virgin!"

Patrick frowned as Neil laughed at this particular comment. "Patrick!" He said, and Patrick looked to him. "When you get laid, then we can talk about tits."

Linus smiled a bit awkwardly, but when Neil and Rudy turned back to each other, laughing and bantering loudly, he nudged Patrick with his elbow. "Don't worry, Patrick." He said, lowering his voice so the other two wouldn't notice them. "Neither of them have gotten that far, either." Patrick smiled at this reassurance, the flushed look slowly leaving his face. Linus felt better for the moment.

"Oi, Linus!" Neil said. Linus looked toward him, just in time to get a face full of grass. It was only moments before the group dissolved into a full-fledged grass war.