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Ten is woken up by the sound of someone wreaking havoc in the room. He opens his eyes and squints, peering at Doyoung’s figure frantically running around.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Ten asks while rolling face down into the pillow; his only desire is to continue sleeping.
“I said I would meet Johnny before class but the stupid alarm didn’t ring” Doyoung breathes out. Ten looks up and freezes.
“Johnny Seo???????? The cute one ???”
“Well I beg to differ with the last part but I don’t know any other Johnny Seo so yeah that one.”
Ten sits up, “What class is this?” Doyoung shoves something into his bag and responds with “swimming”, disgust clearly shown on his face.
Ten starts laughing, “you don’t know how to swim???”
Doyoung scowls at him, “not everyone grew up in some pish posh international school where you had a chance to fall into water and drown, you ass.”
Ten continues laughing, but shuts up when he realizes something “Johnny in your gym class? Meaning he’ll be in swimming attire??”
“-or lack thereof”
“Oh my god wait for me I’m coming toooooo” Ten leaps out of bed and runs to his closet, throwing open the doors.
Doyoung falls into his bed and sighs, “hurry up though we’re already late.”
“mhm” was Tens reply with his head deep in a pile of clothes.
A few minutes later and Ten is checking himself out in the mirror, a grumbling Doyoung behind him.
As they’re walking, Ten decides to question Doyoung.
“How do you know Johnny?”
“He’s in my finance class. how do you know him?”
“Saw him djing at a club and couldn’t take my eyes away.”
Doyoung glares at Tens lovestruck eyes and snaps him back to consciousness.
“Oh right I remember now” Doyoung starts.
“What??”
“I brought your drunk ass home and had to listen to you ramble on about a hot dj that was really really tall,” Doyoung rolls his eyes and it’s now Ten’s turn to glare at him.
They arrive at the pool in five minutes, the advantage of dorming close to the recreation center. The pair spy Johnny and he waves them over, already changed and in his shorts.
“Hey Doyoung,” he greets, “and you’re Ten right? The really good dancer?”
Doyoung watches as Ten becomes shy, a blush starting to adorn his cheeks.
“-y-you noticed?” Ten finally stutters out.
“Well I mean it’s kind of hard not to, you’re the only one that can own the dance floor like that,” Johnny responds, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his head.
Doyoung rolls his eyes, deciding to leave them alone, and walks towards the locker room to change.
When he walks back out and looks around, Ten and Johnny are nowhere to be found. He does, however, see the lifeguard climb into his chair. He notices the boy’s muscled back and his toned biceps as he grips onto the rungs of the ladder. Said boy turns around and sits down in his chair, abs flashing before they disappear behind the professional pool noodle. Doyoung only realizes he’s staring when the boy turns his head oh my god his jawline and suddenly they’re looking into each other’s eyes. Doyoung quickly looks away, feeling his cheeks heat up as he tries to walk to the benches.
When he looks up again, the boy has shifted his gaze to the pool; a small smile plays on his lips and Doyoung thinks he could never get tired of seeing that.
It was at this time that Johnny decides to appear next to Doyoung’s side
“Yuta?” he questions
“Huh?” Doyoung snaps out of it, looking at Johnny with a confused expression
“The lifeguard,” Johnny gestures with his head, “he’s our age and was captain of like every sports team back in high school.”
“Ah that explains a lot,” Doyoung says, eyes not moving from their target. Johnny gives him a smirk before both their attentions are drawn back to the beginning of the class.
The class goes by with ease, starting off with kicking drills and eventually moving on to gliding, before finally putting the entire freestyle stroke together. Doyoung did well, he’s not incompetent. He just never had the time or energy to go out and learn how to swim, choosing to be attached to his bed instead. He could hear Ten cheering from the bleachers, but for him or Johnny, no one could know. He also uses his reflective goggles to his advantage, now able to blatantly stare at the hot lifeguard without being caught. Doyoung could swear he sees the lifeguard eye him a few times too, but that might just be the chlorine getting to his system.
As soon as class ends, Johnny takes off without Doyoung, leaving said boy alone. Doyoung starts walking to the locker rooms, passing by the deep end of the pool. He thinks about the lifeguard’s gaze as he watches the class taking place, scanning the pool to make sure nothing bad happens. Doyoung could already tell that Yuta was someone who was passionate about what they did, or else why would he be awake and working in the morning, and be so alert while at it? Yuta pouts a little when one of the students starts coughing from accidentally swallowing water and oh god his lips are so kissable. Doyoung’s stares last a little too long, almost turning him into the second coughing kid. He doesn’t even know Yuta, but something in him is drawn to the other- as if they were meant to know each other. Doyoung’s thinking about their potential friendship when he hears a voice call for him:
“Doyoung!!”
It’s Ten. Doyoung is snapped from his thoughts and whips his head around in surprise. His body reacts slower than his brain; his slender limbs give away and
he slips.
Back first into the entirety of the deep end.
The last thing Doyoung sees is the shocked look on Yuta’s face, before he becomes completely engulfed by pool water.
He flails, because what else were you supposed to do when you unexpectedly fall into the pool?
The deep end lives to its name, and Doyoung continues to sink, forgetting everything he learned about how not to drown. He then subconsciously feels the water splash next to him, and suddenly there are strong arms around his waist, pushing him up. As soon as he breaks the surface of the water, he feels a large foam block being thrusted into his arms, and he holds on for dear life. His eyes are still closed, and they continue to be, even when he’s being pulled out of the water. He shuts his eyes even harder when he feels Yuta kneel next to him, who makes Doyoung sit upright and gently taps his back, forcing a cough out of the latter. After Doyoung finishes coughing the excess water out of his lungs, he finally gains the courage to look up.
“Hey, are you okay?” Yuta asks. Doyoung’s too busy staring into the other’s eyes to realize he hasn’t responded, and Yuta has to cough before Doyoung is brought out of his thoughts.
“y-yeah” he quickly mumbles out, now his turn to become shy. Yuta breathes out a sigh of relief, and Doyoung thinks that even if he’s not okay, Yuta’s smile has the power to heal.
Both of them sit there until Doyoung regains his ability to breathe normally, and stands up with the help of Yuta.
“Hey uh- thank you” Doyoung says, not able to meet Yuta’s eyes.
“You’re welcome,” he responds. Doyoung lifts his eyes and they stare into each other, no one making the move to leave. It wasn’t until Doyoung shivers that both of them realize they’re wet and should change into clean clothes.
“Um, I guess I’ll go change now,” Doyoung starts.
“Yeah, I don’t think you’ll want to be near here anytime soon,” Yuta laughs out: the sound of heaven to Doyoung’s ears.
Doyoung gives Yuta a small smile, and finally notices Johnny and Ten standing off on the side. They’re smirking at him. He glares at them before turning around to walk towards the locker rooms. He hasn’t walked far when he hears:
“My name’s Yuta by the way, incase you want to write a thank you card,” he finishes with a wink. Doyoung sees Johnny and Ten heading to the locker rooms when he decides to reply:
“Doyoung,” with a blush on his face, and finally decides to walk away from the more than awkward encounter to the security of dry clothing.
When Doyoung reaches the locker rooms, he tries to beeline for the showers immediately, but Johnny and Ten are a step ahead of him, standing in his way.
“I see you actually fell for him huh,” Johnny says, a smirk reappearing on his face. Doyoung rolls his eyes and tries to walk past him, but then it’s Ten that blocks his way.
“You should take him out for lunch, you know.” He looks straight into Doyoung’s eyes. Doyoung sighs and his shoulders slump.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good, you should repay him for saving your incapable ass. Not even I would do that.”
Ten dodges a flying towel aimed for his face before hiding behind Johnny, knowing Doyoung wouldn’t be able to do anything then. Doyoung then narrows his eyes.
“When did you two become so close?”
The pair look at each other before answering.
“While you were busy staring at Mr. Pool Noodle over there, we actually had a civilized conversation,” Johnny responds. Doyoung glares at him and opens his mouth to respond when Ten butts in:
“I actually called your name to tell you Johnny and I will be going out for lunch together so you don’t have to worry about me!”
Doyoung looks at him with curiosity.
“But you know, I couldn’t finish my sentence, since you decided to plant your ass at the bottom of that deep end!” Ten hasn’t even finished his sentence when he starts running away, an apologetic Johnny going after him. Doyoung watches them walk off with a yearning look in his eyes. With the pair gone, this meant the path to the showers was open. Doyoung steps in before he gets even more lost in his thoughts.
He takes enough time to only wash the chlorine away, thinking about what he could say to Yuta when he sees him again. Doyoung gets dressed and gathers enough courage to walk outside.
But Yuta’s there already.
“Hey,” he starts, and Doyoung sees that he has changed into street clothes. Yuta notices Doyoung eyeing him and says, “oh your class was the only thing here today, my shift is over.”
“Oh,” Doyoung finally says. They stand in silence for a while, neither men looking up to meet the other’s eyes.
After a few seconds, Doyoung coughs, catching Yuta’s attention.
“Thanks for uh- saving me back there,” he says. Yuta gives him a small smile.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s only my job.”
They stare at each other until Yuta stiffens,
“Are you sure you’re okay?” there’s a look of concern in his eyes.
“Do you always care so much for the people you save?” Doyoung asks back, catching Yuta off guard.
“Only the cute ones,” he winks. “Now answer my question” he replies, the mood becoming serious again.
“Yeah I am” Doyoung replies, a bit embarrassed.
“That’s not what your body language told me when you were coughing out your lungs back there.” Yuta laughs, embarrassing Doyoung even more.
“Well I would feel a lot better if you would let me take you out for lunch as thanks”
Yuta freezes, before a smile breaks out: one that reaches his eyes.
“I thought you would never ask.”