A Raffles and Bunny fic
Here's another fic from a prompt for the defunct comm 100_situations. Why I keep including that info, I don't know. Probably because I can't think of titles for fics.
Title: Swim
Pairing: Raffles/Bunny
Rating: G
Warnings: Way too cute story from their school days
Summary: Will Bunny trust Raffles to teach him to swim?
A/N: Some months ago, I asked violetjimjams to decide whether this prompt should be about the adult Raffles and Bunny (with shenanigans) or schoolboy Raffles and Bunny (without shenanigans - they're too young!). She opted for schoolboys. ajs_bunny gave me some early advice on the story, but the result has not been beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
To say the day was hot would have been understating the case. Our housemaster said he couldn’t remember a summer term that brought so little respite from the stifling heat. We boys had to make a supreme effort to arise from our beds in the mornings, let alone attend to our studies and the myriad responsibilities that were the duty of every British schoolboy.
Even so, the headmaster saw no reason to cancel the day’s cricket match. The young men at our school were made of sterner stuff, he said, and would carry on. As a concession to the scorching weather, however, our headmaster ordered the gardeners to provide plenty of water for the players as well as those brave enough to stay and watch.
Raffles didn’t seem to mind the heat, but though I’d found a bit of precious shade from which to view the match, I was simply wilting by the time the thing was over. I handed Raffles a glass of water as he walked off the pitch, and he gave me his bat with a hand that shook just a little. I watched him as he drank, worried that he might faint. He had minded the heat after all, but he hadn’t allowed it to affect his bowling nor his batting.
The water seemed to revive him. He wiped his his sleeve across his sweating forehead, then ran his fingers through his damp, unruly curls. His face was pale despite the blazing sun, and he didn’t disagree when I insisted we go inside so that he could rest.
“Let us retire to my study, Bunny,” he said. “I’ll be fine if I can just sleep for bit.”
I took charge of him the moment the door was closed. I helped him out of his sweat-soaked whites, put aside his kit to be dealt with later and urged him to stretch out on the small divan that I’d pulled near the window to catch what little breeze there was.
He was asleep within minutes. I was tired, too, and it wasn’t long before I curled up in Raffles’ small armchair and drifted off to sleep myself.
When I finally stirred, Raffles was already up and about, freshly bathed and looking as if he hadn’t lifted a finger all day. My own clothing was badly rumpled and my person felt less than fresh.
I looked out the window. It was already getting dark.
“We must have slept for hours,” I said, yawning. “We missed tea and dinner.”
“Not at all,” Raffles said. “The cook took pity on me and provided me with a repast after I explained to her that you’d been ill all afternoon and I couldn’t leave your side until you felt better.”
“But I was fine,” I said. “You were the one who-”
Raffles was already seated at the small table. “Does it really matter? Come and eat, my dear rabbit.”
My hunger outweighed my annoyance. We tucked into a selection of sandwiches and fresh fruit, then enjoyed a fine chocolate cake for afters. Raffles rubbed his stomach in satisfaction.
“Excellent,” he said. “If you’ve revived enough, in just a short while I’ll need your help.”
“Surely you’re not going out tonight?” I said, hardly able to believe my ears. “After the day you’ve had? It’s still beastly hot. Why not just stay here and rest?”
Raffles leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. “You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say I’ll need your help getting us both out tonight.”
“Both of us?” My jaw gaped. Raffles never took me with him at night. It was my responsibility to aid in his leavetaking, then await his return.
Raffles put his finger under my chin and closed my mouth. “It’s been such a warm day, I thought we would stroll down to the lake and have ourselves an evening swim.”
I shook my head. “We shall get caught. You can swim tomorrow with the other boys.”
“I’d prefer to swim now. We shall have the lake to ourselves.” He stood up and stretched. “Shall we?”
How could I tell him? Raffles, who excelled at everything he did, would laugh himself sick at the thought that I’d never learned to swim. I was quite terrified of the water, having fallen out of a boat when I was just a small boy.
“What is it, Bunny?” Raffles was already lifting the loose floorboard under which he kept his black rope ladder. “Don’t you want to go with me?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t … that is, I can’t …”
“Yes?”
“I can’t swim!” There. It was out. I steeled myself against his reaction.
“You can’t swim?”
I shook my head.
“Not a bit?”
I shook my head.
“Not a stroke?”
“Not even that,” I said miserably, staring at the floor so I wouldn’t have to meet see his merry countenance.
Raffles placed his hand under my chin and lifted it, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Then it’s time you learned, Bunny. We might want to punt down the Thames one day. If I fell overboard, you wouldn’t be able to rescue me if you can’t swim.”
He wasn’t laughing. His smile was kind and his expression was one of resigned fondness, if there is such a thing.
“But I’m afraid of the water, Raffles,” I said, my voice quavering just a little.
“No need to be afraid,” Raffles said, turning toward the window. “I shall look after you.”
“You do promise?”
He looked back at me, his expression injured. “Of course. What do you take me for? One of those other sixth-form louts?”
I took a deep breath. If anyone could keep me safe, it was Raffles. He’d proven himself as my protector more than once, and I had no doubt he would do it again.
“I’ll come.”
He smiled at me. “Then let us depart.” He tied the ends of the rope to the radiator, tested their strength and motioned me toward the window. “I’ll go first and take a look. Then you.”
I nodded, my excitement at going out with Raffles for perhaps the first and only time overriding my fear of making a fool of myself once we reached the lake. I watched him as he hoisted himself over the sill. He looked from left to right, then climbed down the rope ladder.
Once on the ground, he again looked from left to right, then looked up at me. He beckoned to me to climb down, which I did, though with not nearly as much grace and skill as did he. But that was to be expected as I’d only climbed up the rope once but never down it.
Raffles reached up for me and guided me down, his strong hands on my hips, then he placed a finger on my lips to indicate that I shouldn’t say a word. He tucked the end of the ladder behind a nearby shrub, thus partially concealing it from the casual onlooker.
Taking my arm, Raffles led me in a roundabout fashion down to the lake. The three-quarter moon was bright in the cloudless sky, so we were forced to move in the shadows of tall oak trees and the many imposing buildings that dotted the grounds.
We arrived at the lake some ten minutes after we left Raffles’ study. It was cooler now, but the still air felt humid and damp with the promise of another day of merciless heat. Raffles sat on the dewy grass and removed his shoes and stockings, urging me to do the same. I sighed with pleasure as I dug my bare toes in the soft grass.
But a thought occurred to me. “Raffles,” I said. “We’ve forgotten our trunks. We shan’t be able to swim.”
“Oh, Bunny, there is no one about,” Raffles said. “We shall swim in the altogether.”
I stared at him, aghast. “But, Raffles,” I said, “that isn’t decent.”
Raffles grinned at me and shook his head. “You are the most prudish rabbit I’ve ever met. There is no one here to see you.”
Dismissing my concern, he stood up and unbuttoned his shirt. He tugged it off and tossed it on the grass, to be followed by his thin vest. The bright moonlight shone on his pale skin, turning it to silver. I looked away from him and at the water, suddenly shy of removing any of my clothing. Raffles was tall and slender, but well-built, whereas I still resembled a boy who’d not reached even the lowest rungs of physical maturity.
“Bunny,” he said in a soft voice. “Aren’t you coming?”
I nodded and got to my feet and began unbuttoning my shirt, thinking that perhaps I could simply undress in a hurry, then hide my childish form beneath the dark water. I removed my shirt and laid it aside, and with great reluctance, tugged off my vest.
I glanced at Raffles. He’d already unfastened his trousers and was now stepping out of them. Wearing only his undershorts, he folded his trousers and then carelessly dropped them to the ground. I expected him to move toward the water, but he didn’t. Instead, he hooked his thumbs in the waist of his undershorts and slid them down his long legs. I stood there, too shocked to move or to speak, as he stepped out them.
I had seen Raffles in less than his school uniform on any number of occasions, but never had I seen him like this. It wasn’t stretching the truth to say that in that moment he resembled a Greek sculpture, perhaps of Ganymede, the most beautiful of all mortals. The moonlight danced upon the lines and angles of his body, transforming him into a magical being who couldn’t be of this world.
Raffles lifted his arms and stretched, brushed the dark tendrils of hair from the back of his neck, then turned to look at me.
“You’re still dressed,” he said, uncaring of his own nudity. He moved toward me with an easy grace that he displayed in everything he did, and I feared that he intended to help divest me of my clothing the way I had done for him earlier in the day.
But all he did was pat me on the shoulder and urge me to get undressed and join him in the lake. I watched as he waded into the water, hearing his sigh as its coolness touched his skin. When the water reached his waist, he did a shallow dive, emerging just a few yards from where he started. He pushed his wet hair from his eyes and waved at me.
“Are you coming, Bunny?” he called. “The water’s lovely.”
My voice stuck in my throat and all I could do was shake my head. I couldn’t undress, much less join him in the water, not now. I would look like a child next to him, not the stalwart companion he’d come to depend upon. The differences between us would be all the more apparent if I removed even one more stitch of my clothing.
“If you don’t get undressed now I shall be forced to seek assistance,” Raffles called in a teasing voice.
He was floating on his back now, resembling Ganymede even more than he had a moment ago. I looked up at the sky, half expecting to see an eagle swoop down to steal Raffles from me.
The thought was irrational, I know, but the idea that someone or something could take Raffles away from me was more than I could bear. I removed the rest of my clothing and hurried into the water, breathing a sigh of relief when I was hidden from the waist down. Perhaps Raffles would forget about teaching me to swim; perhaps he would be content to paddle about, just enough to refresh ourselves.
My hopes were in vain. Raffles swam toward me with smooth, fast strokes and within seconds was beside me.
“Are you ready?” he asked, sliding one wet arm around my shoulders.
“No,” I said in a voice barely above a whisper. The water surrounding us looked dark and menacing. “I want to go back.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Raffles asked. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to my rabbit.” He dipped his free hand into the water and let it trickle through his fingers. “There is nothing to fear.”
“I’m not afraid,” I said, the lie rolling off my tongue. “I just don’t want to swim right now.”
“What better time?” he asked. “Of course, you could wait until tomorrow. Every lout in the sixth form will be here; perhaps one of them would enjoy teaching you to swim.”
I looked up at him. He was grinning at me, his teeth a brilliant white in the light of the moon. His wet skin gleamed like marble, strong and solid and dependable. If I couldn’t trust A.J. Raffles with my life, then I could trust no one at all.
I nodded.
“Good,” he said and wasted no time in getting to the lesson. “I shall teach you to float.”
Before I knew it, Raffles had me lying supine in the water, one hand under my shoulders and the other at the small of my back. My embarrassment forgotten, I stiffened in fear and felt myself folding up in the middle.
“Not like that, Bunny, not like that,” Raffles admonished me. He hauled me to my back once more, talking all the while.
“Close your eyes,” he said in a soft voice. “Imagine that you’re resting against the breast of the one person in the world who would never let you down, one who would protect you and keep you safe all the days of your life - the one you trust beyond all others.”
I closed my eyes, still afraid of what would happen if Raffles let go of me. But he wouldn’t let go of me, I realized. Raffles, my dearest friend and confidante, the sun around which my small world revolved, was the one person on Earth whom I trusted more than any other. Raffles, who never let me down, who had come to my rescue more than once since I’d become his fag, was the one I imagined supporting me, helping me and believing in my ability to master a skill so simple as floating on a quiet, moonlit lake.
I opened my eyes at the sound of Raffles’ soft chuckle. He was standing over me, at my side as always, but his arms were crossed over his chest.
“You must trust this person very much,” he said as he grinned at me. “Whoever it is, I hope he is worthy of it.”
I was floating! On my own! I had done it!
I grinned back at him, overwhelmed with joy and triumph. Before I could thank him for his help, he placed a wet finger on my lips.
“May I ask who it was who held your thoughts just now?” He traced my lower lip, all the while smiling down at me. “Who is it that you trust with your life?”
I shook my head, suddenly too shy to say that he alone kept me afloat.
He nodded in understanding. “That’s all right, Bunny,” he said. “A man has to have a secret or two.
“But,” he continued, “as pleasant as it is to have the lake to ourselves, we must dry off and dress. It wouldn’t do to be found here as naked as the day we were born.”
He helped me right myself and together we walked toward the shore. We sat together in the grass, enjoying the peace and quiet, while we waited for the warm night air to dry our skin. We dressed, again in silence and made our way back to our house. We climbed the rope ladder and were back in Raffles’ study, the ladder tucked back under the floorboard, before Raffles spoke.
“You’ve done well, Bunny,” he said. “The next time I shall teach you to swim. You’ll be an expert before summer term is over.”
“The next time?” I said, hardly daring to believe that I might accompany him on another midnight excursion. “Do you mean to say we’ll go again?”
Raffles brushed my damp hair off my forehead. “This infernal heat shows no sign of letting up. We shall be forced to visit the lake tomorrow night as well.”
He opened his door and looked out, then motioned to me to follow him. When we reached my room, he patted my shoulder in a brotherly fashion and bid me goodnight.
“Raffles,” I whispered before he could go.
He looked at me expectantly.
“Raffles,” I said. “Do you think about someone when you’re floating? Someone you trust?”
He nodded. “Everyone does.”
“Who do you think about?” I asked, knowing that I had no right to pose the question since I had declined to answer the same one from him.
Raffles gave my right ear a gentle tweak. “You, of course, my dear rabbit,” he said. “Who else?”
Title: Swim
Pairing: Raffles/Bunny
Rating: G
Warnings: Way too cute story from their school days
Summary: Will Bunny trust Raffles to teach him to swim?
A/N: Some months ago, I asked violetjimjams to decide whether this prompt should be about the adult Raffles and Bunny (with shenanigans) or schoolboy Raffles and Bunny (without shenanigans - they're too young!). She opted for schoolboys. ajs_bunny gave me some early advice on the story, but the result has not been beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
To say the day was hot would have been understating the case. Our housemaster said he couldn’t remember a summer term that brought so little respite from the stifling heat. We boys had to make a supreme effort to arise from our beds in the mornings, let alone attend to our studies and the myriad responsibilities that were the duty of every British schoolboy.
Even so, the headmaster saw no reason to cancel the day’s cricket match. The young men at our school were made of sterner stuff, he said, and would carry on. As a concession to the scorching weather, however, our headmaster ordered the gardeners to provide plenty of water for the players as well as those brave enough to stay and watch.
Raffles didn’t seem to mind the heat, but though I’d found a bit of precious shade from which to view the match, I was simply wilting by the time the thing was over. I handed Raffles a glass of water as he walked off the pitch, and he gave me his bat with a hand that shook just a little. I watched him as he drank, worried that he might faint. He had minded the heat after all, but he hadn’t allowed it to affect his bowling nor his batting.
The water seemed to revive him. He wiped his his sleeve across his sweating forehead, then ran his fingers through his damp, unruly curls. His face was pale despite the blazing sun, and he didn’t disagree when I insisted we go inside so that he could rest.
“Let us retire to my study, Bunny,” he said. “I’ll be fine if I can just sleep for bit.”
I took charge of him the moment the door was closed. I helped him out of his sweat-soaked whites, put aside his kit to be dealt with later and urged him to stretch out on the small divan that I’d pulled near the window to catch what little breeze there was.
He was asleep within minutes. I was tired, too, and it wasn’t long before I curled up in Raffles’ small armchair and drifted off to sleep myself.
When I finally stirred, Raffles was already up and about, freshly bathed and looking as if he hadn’t lifted a finger all day. My own clothing was badly rumpled and my person felt less than fresh.
I looked out the window. It was already getting dark.
“We must have slept for hours,” I said, yawning. “We missed tea and dinner.”
“Not at all,” Raffles said. “The cook took pity on me and provided me with a repast after I explained to her that you’d been ill all afternoon and I couldn’t leave your side until you felt better.”
“But I was fine,” I said. “You were the one who-”
Raffles was already seated at the small table. “Does it really matter? Come and eat, my dear rabbit.”
My hunger outweighed my annoyance. We tucked into a selection of sandwiches and fresh fruit, then enjoyed a fine chocolate cake for afters. Raffles rubbed his stomach in satisfaction.
“Excellent,” he said. “If you’ve revived enough, in just a short while I’ll need your help.”
“Surely you’re not going out tonight?” I said, hardly able to believe my ears. “After the day you’ve had? It’s still beastly hot. Why not just stay here and rest?”
Raffles leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. “You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say I’ll need your help getting us both out tonight.”
“Both of us?” My jaw gaped. Raffles never took me with him at night. It was my responsibility to aid in his leavetaking, then await his return.
Raffles put his finger under my chin and closed my mouth. “It’s been such a warm day, I thought we would stroll down to the lake and have ourselves an evening swim.”
I shook my head. “We shall get caught. You can swim tomorrow with the other boys.”
“I’d prefer to swim now. We shall have the lake to ourselves.” He stood up and stretched. “Shall we?”
How could I tell him? Raffles, who excelled at everything he did, would laugh himself sick at the thought that I’d never learned to swim. I was quite terrified of the water, having fallen out of a boat when I was just a small boy.
“What is it, Bunny?” Raffles was already lifting the loose floorboard under which he kept his black rope ladder. “Don’t you want to go with me?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t … that is, I can’t …”
“Yes?”
“I can’t swim!” There. It was out. I steeled myself against his reaction.
“You can’t swim?”
I shook my head.
“Not a bit?”
I shook my head.
“Not a stroke?”
“Not even that,” I said miserably, staring at the floor so I wouldn’t have to meet see his merry countenance.
Raffles placed his hand under my chin and lifted it, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Then it’s time you learned, Bunny. We might want to punt down the Thames one day. If I fell overboard, you wouldn’t be able to rescue me if you can’t swim.”
He wasn’t laughing. His smile was kind and his expression was one of resigned fondness, if there is such a thing.
“But I’m afraid of the water, Raffles,” I said, my voice quavering just a little.
“No need to be afraid,” Raffles said, turning toward the window. “I shall look after you.”
“You do promise?”
He looked back at me, his expression injured. “Of course. What do you take me for? One of those other sixth-form louts?”
I took a deep breath. If anyone could keep me safe, it was Raffles. He’d proven himself as my protector more than once, and I had no doubt he would do it again.
“I’ll come.”
He smiled at me. “Then let us depart.” He tied the ends of the rope to the radiator, tested their strength and motioned me toward the window. “I’ll go first and take a look. Then you.”
I nodded, my excitement at going out with Raffles for perhaps the first and only time overriding my fear of making a fool of myself once we reached the lake. I watched him as he hoisted himself over the sill. He looked from left to right, then climbed down the rope ladder.
Once on the ground, he again looked from left to right, then looked up at me. He beckoned to me to climb down, which I did, though with not nearly as much grace and skill as did he. But that was to be expected as I’d only climbed up the rope once but never down it.
Raffles reached up for me and guided me down, his strong hands on my hips, then he placed a finger on my lips to indicate that I shouldn’t say a word. He tucked the end of the ladder behind a nearby shrub, thus partially concealing it from the casual onlooker.
Taking my arm, Raffles led me in a roundabout fashion down to the lake. The three-quarter moon was bright in the cloudless sky, so we were forced to move in the shadows of tall oak trees and the many imposing buildings that dotted the grounds.
We arrived at the lake some ten minutes after we left Raffles’ study. It was cooler now, but the still air felt humid and damp with the promise of another day of merciless heat. Raffles sat on the dewy grass and removed his shoes and stockings, urging me to do the same. I sighed with pleasure as I dug my bare toes in the soft grass.
But a thought occurred to me. “Raffles,” I said. “We’ve forgotten our trunks. We shan’t be able to swim.”
“Oh, Bunny, there is no one about,” Raffles said. “We shall swim in the altogether.”
I stared at him, aghast. “But, Raffles,” I said, “that isn’t decent.”
Raffles grinned at me and shook his head. “You are the most prudish rabbit I’ve ever met. There is no one here to see you.”
Dismissing my concern, he stood up and unbuttoned his shirt. He tugged it off and tossed it on the grass, to be followed by his thin vest. The bright moonlight shone on his pale skin, turning it to silver. I looked away from him and at the water, suddenly shy of removing any of my clothing. Raffles was tall and slender, but well-built, whereas I still resembled a boy who’d not reached even the lowest rungs of physical maturity.
“Bunny,” he said in a soft voice. “Aren’t you coming?”
I nodded and got to my feet and began unbuttoning my shirt, thinking that perhaps I could simply undress in a hurry, then hide my childish form beneath the dark water. I removed my shirt and laid it aside, and with great reluctance, tugged off my vest.
I glanced at Raffles. He’d already unfastened his trousers and was now stepping out of them. Wearing only his undershorts, he folded his trousers and then carelessly dropped them to the ground. I expected him to move toward the water, but he didn’t. Instead, he hooked his thumbs in the waist of his undershorts and slid them down his long legs. I stood there, too shocked to move or to speak, as he stepped out them.
I had seen Raffles in less than his school uniform on any number of occasions, but never had I seen him like this. It wasn’t stretching the truth to say that in that moment he resembled a Greek sculpture, perhaps of Ganymede, the most beautiful of all mortals. The moonlight danced upon the lines and angles of his body, transforming him into a magical being who couldn’t be of this world.
Raffles lifted his arms and stretched, brushed the dark tendrils of hair from the back of his neck, then turned to look at me.
“You’re still dressed,” he said, uncaring of his own nudity. He moved toward me with an easy grace that he displayed in everything he did, and I feared that he intended to help divest me of my clothing the way I had done for him earlier in the day.
But all he did was pat me on the shoulder and urge me to get undressed and join him in the lake. I watched as he waded into the water, hearing his sigh as its coolness touched his skin. When the water reached his waist, he did a shallow dive, emerging just a few yards from where he started. He pushed his wet hair from his eyes and waved at me.
“Are you coming, Bunny?” he called. “The water’s lovely.”
My voice stuck in my throat and all I could do was shake my head. I couldn’t undress, much less join him in the water, not now. I would look like a child next to him, not the stalwart companion he’d come to depend upon. The differences between us would be all the more apparent if I removed even one more stitch of my clothing.
“If you don’t get undressed now I shall be forced to seek assistance,” Raffles called in a teasing voice.
He was floating on his back now, resembling Ganymede even more than he had a moment ago. I looked up at the sky, half expecting to see an eagle swoop down to steal Raffles from me.
The thought was irrational, I know, but the idea that someone or something could take Raffles away from me was more than I could bear. I removed the rest of my clothing and hurried into the water, breathing a sigh of relief when I was hidden from the waist down. Perhaps Raffles would forget about teaching me to swim; perhaps he would be content to paddle about, just enough to refresh ourselves.
My hopes were in vain. Raffles swam toward me with smooth, fast strokes and within seconds was beside me.
“Are you ready?” he asked, sliding one wet arm around my shoulders.
“No,” I said in a voice barely above a whisper. The water surrounding us looked dark and menacing. “I want to go back.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Raffles asked. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to my rabbit.” He dipped his free hand into the water and let it trickle through his fingers. “There is nothing to fear.”
“I’m not afraid,” I said, the lie rolling off my tongue. “I just don’t want to swim right now.”
“What better time?” he asked. “Of course, you could wait until tomorrow. Every lout in the sixth form will be here; perhaps one of them would enjoy teaching you to swim.”
I looked up at him. He was grinning at me, his teeth a brilliant white in the light of the moon. His wet skin gleamed like marble, strong and solid and dependable. If I couldn’t trust A.J. Raffles with my life, then I could trust no one at all.
I nodded.
“Good,” he said and wasted no time in getting to the lesson. “I shall teach you to float.”
Before I knew it, Raffles had me lying supine in the water, one hand under my shoulders and the other at the small of my back. My embarrassment forgotten, I stiffened in fear and felt myself folding up in the middle.
“Not like that, Bunny, not like that,” Raffles admonished me. He hauled me to my back once more, talking all the while.
“Close your eyes,” he said in a soft voice. “Imagine that you’re resting against the breast of the one person in the world who would never let you down, one who would protect you and keep you safe all the days of your life - the one you trust beyond all others.”
I closed my eyes, still afraid of what would happen if Raffles let go of me. But he wouldn’t let go of me, I realized. Raffles, my dearest friend and confidante, the sun around which my small world revolved, was the one person on Earth whom I trusted more than any other. Raffles, who never let me down, who had come to my rescue more than once since I’d become his fag, was the one I imagined supporting me, helping me and believing in my ability to master a skill so simple as floating on a quiet, moonlit lake.
I opened my eyes at the sound of Raffles’ soft chuckle. He was standing over me, at my side as always, but his arms were crossed over his chest.
“You must trust this person very much,” he said as he grinned at me. “Whoever it is, I hope he is worthy of it.”
I was floating! On my own! I had done it!
I grinned back at him, overwhelmed with joy and triumph. Before I could thank him for his help, he placed a wet finger on my lips.
“May I ask who it was who held your thoughts just now?” He traced my lower lip, all the while smiling down at me. “Who is it that you trust with your life?”
I shook my head, suddenly too shy to say that he alone kept me afloat.
He nodded in understanding. “That’s all right, Bunny,” he said. “A man has to have a secret or two.
“But,” he continued, “as pleasant as it is to have the lake to ourselves, we must dry off and dress. It wouldn’t do to be found here as naked as the day we were born.”
He helped me right myself and together we walked toward the shore. We sat together in the grass, enjoying the peace and quiet, while we waited for the warm night air to dry our skin. We dressed, again in silence and made our way back to our house. We climbed the rope ladder and were back in Raffles’ study, the ladder tucked back under the floorboard, before Raffles spoke.
“You’ve done well, Bunny,” he said. “The next time I shall teach you to swim. You’ll be an expert before summer term is over.”
“The next time?” I said, hardly daring to believe that I might accompany him on another midnight excursion. “Do you mean to say we’ll go again?”
Raffles brushed my damp hair off my forehead. “This infernal heat shows no sign of letting up. We shall be forced to visit the lake tomorrow night as well.”
He opened his door and looked out, then motioned to me to follow him. When we reached my room, he patted my shoulder in a brotherly fashion and bid me goodnight.
“Raffles,” I whispered before he could go.
He looked at me expectantly.
“Raffles,” I said. “Do you think about someone when you’re floating? Someone you trust?”
He nodded. “Everyone does.”
“Who do you think about?” I asked, knowing that I had no right to pose the question since I had declined to answer the same one from him.
Raffles gave my right ear a gentle tweak. “You, of course, my dear rabbit,” he said. “Who else?”