the second time around
The Second Time Around
Sehun/Kai
Sehun starts his day by sliding in the bath tub filled to the brim with cold water.
He’s too long for the small space so he pulls his legs up, gangly knees peeking out from the still water. It’s almost like this every day - him staying in the water until the sun has completely risen up and time to go to school. On better days, he’ll get off the tub early and fix himself breakfast - a cup of coffee and a serving of mackerel heaped with steaming hot rice.
Today isn’t one of the better days because he falls asleep, back plastered to the wet marble while his head hung inches away from the water. He wakes up when someone grabs him by the shoulder, trying to shake him into consciousness.
“Sehun. Sehun, wake up.” A deep voice bellows and he opens his eyes to Chanyeol grinning at him.
Sehun yawns loudly because it’s too early to be roused from sleep and all he wants is to curl back in bed or sit in the water for a little longer.
“It’s time for school, you big baby. Come on. Go strip from that awful swimming trunks of yours and take a proper shower.” Chanyeol chides, pulling at his elbow to get him moving.
He scoffs at him and bats Chanyeol’s hand away. “Hey, I happen to like these.”
Chanyeol sighs, defeated. “I know. You keep saying you don’t swim anymore but you wear your trunks all the time anyway.”
Sehun shrugs at him before stepping into the shower.
Sehun has known Chanyeol ever since they moved to their neighborhood.
He was 14 then, isolated from the rest of his class because he had the misfortune of transferring during the middle of the year and everyone already had friends to hang out with after class while he walked alone at the sidewalk.
It was one afternoon during a weekend - he was dragged by his mother out of the house to help with groceries. While she chatted idly with some of their new neighbors, Sehun was walking around when he noticed a tall boy walking towards his direction. The tall boy was heaving a bag over one shoulder, black hair wet, eyes rimmed with red and Sehun could smell the chlorine and pool water on him as he walked past. He ran next to him, almost dropping one of the shopping bags he was carrying and blurted out, “Do you swim?” without really thinking.
The tall boy looked at him, alarmed, but smiled tentatively anyway. “Yeah, I do. How’d you know?”
“I could, um, smell the pool on you.” Sehun flushed, dragging his sneakers across the pavement repeatedly
The boy laughed, loud and boisterous. “You must be used to the water too. Do you swim?”
“I… kind of.”
“Cool. I’m Chanyeol.” He said with a big grin on his face, holding out a hand for him to shake.
“Sehun.” He replied and fumbled around with the bags in his hand before taking Chanyeol’s outstretched hand.
“Nice to meet you, Sehun. Want me to show you where I swim? It’s not too far from here.” He offered while running a hand across his wet hair and Sehun nodded enthusiastically before running off to his mother to let him know where he’s going.
Chanyeol smiled at him, left eye twitching at bit, as he led the way and talked about the swim club he was in.
From then on, he’s been woken up by the same grinning face every day.
Sehun yawns again as he stares at the ocean gleaming under the sun. He can hear Chanyeol talking beside him, something about ferrets, but he couldn’t bring himself to care or even pretend to listen. He just wants to strip down to his swimming trunks and jump into the water. He shudders - it’s like he could feel the cold seeping into his skin just by thinking about it. Sehun sighs involuntarily.
“What?” Chanyeol asks, sounding slightly miffed that he couldn’t finish his story.
Sehun looks at him, distracted. “Huh? Oh, um. Nothing.”
Chanyeol sighs dramatically. “Let me guess. You’re thinking about jumping in again, aren’t you?”
He opens his mouth to answer but Chanyeol waves a hand dismissively. “Never mind. You’re always thinking about swimming.”
Sehun gives him a small nod before looking out the ocean again while Chanyeol continues telling his story from where he left off.
When the both of them get to the school gate, Baekhyun’s already hunched over his bicycle waiting for them. Waiting for Chanyeol, Sehun supposes, since they’re both in the same class and Sehun’s a year younger than them.
Chanyeol whistles and says, “Baek! Right here!”
Baekhyun looks up, gives them both a bright smile and a wave, like he always does every day.
Sehun met Baekhyun a year after he became friends with Chanyeol.
Chanyeol’s swim club practiced every afternoon during the summer so Sehun usually spent his time watching everyone swim, staying seated in the bleachers while the coach made them do laps again and again to improve their stamina.
During the last week of summer, just before school started, Sehun waited patiently for Chanyeol to finish in the shower. The other members of the swim club had already gone ahead and Sehun sat at the edge of the pool, letting his hand graze the still water in front of him. The cold sent tingles down his spine. The expanse of blue was tempting but he couldn’t do anything but sigh wistfully, determined to bring his trunks next time so he could go out for a swim when everyone else was gone.
Sehun stood up when he heard the shower being turned off and he was about to walk to the bleachers to get his things when someone with leaned over him, too close for comfort, and yelled out, “Boo!” which made him topple back in surprise. He fell into the water with a loud splash and when he surfaced, the boy was holding out a hand towards him while Sehun wheezed for air.
“Oops. Sorry.” The boy mumbled with a giggle, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Sehun took his hand and pulled himself out. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
The boy rummaged around Chanyeol’s bag and pulled out a spare towel, tossing it to him. “I’m Baekhyun. I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new?”
Sehun shook his head while running the towel over his head. “No, I’m not. I just, uh… I’m Sehun.”
Baekhyun gave him a bright smile, eyes disappearing and replied, “Nice to meet you, not new Sehun.”
The bell rings just as Sehun steps inside his homeroom. He looks over his shoulder and Chanyeol waves at him while Baekhyun mouths, “See you at lunch!” before hurrying to the next floor where their homeroom was.
Sehun manages to settle into his seat just before their teacher walks in, the class president calling everyone’s attention to bow at the same time.
“Before anything else, someone new will be joining our class. He just transferred today.” Their teacher announces.
Sehun stares at a blank part of the board, uninterested, as the door opens and a new student comes in. The class mumble to each other, curious, at the person standing in front of them.
“Greet everyone.” Their teacher says, motioning to the class.
“I’m Kim Jongin. Treat me well.”
Sehun looks over to where the new kid was. Jongin, with his brown eyes staring lazily across the room while his right hand grip the strap of his backpack. Jongin’s eyes meet with his and he widens his eyes for a moment in recognition before his gaze turns into a steely glare. Sehun wants to smile at him but Jongin looks away before he could even think twice about it.
When Sehun first met Jongin, he was 5.
It was playtime and the other kids were outside, running around the field or taking turns in the swing. Sehun stayed inside the classroom though, no matter how much his teacher convinced him to go outside. He had no friends and he didn’t like his classmates that much anyway. They were always too noisy, especially the girls. So when everyone left, he pulled out his coloring book and flipped to an uncolored picture. He was busy filling in the sun with yellow when someone came in. He paid it no attention and looked inside his box for a blue crayon so he could color the sky.
“Here. You dropped this.” A voice said.
Sehun looked at the boy standing next to his table, messy black hair and eyes that looked like he was about to fall asleep but he had a kind smile while he held out the crayon Sehun was looking for.
“Thanks.” He mumbled, going back on coloring his picture.
“I’m Jongin, from the other class. What’s your name?”
“Sehun. Oh Sehun.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Oh Sehun. Do you want some bread? I wanted to share it with my classmates but they left me all alone so...” Jongin said shyly while clutching at a brown paper bag.
Sehun nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Jongin smiled at him and pulled a chair so they could sit next to each other. They ended up finishing the picture Sehun was coloring together and playing when school ended while they waited for their parents to pick them up.
They were inseparable ever since.
All Sehun manages to do for the rest of the morning is to stare at the back of Jongin’s head. He’s seated in the row next to him, a few chairs ahead. He’s gotten taller and leaner the last time he saw him, almost two years ago. He still looks mostly the same but as Sehun stares at him, he notices the little things - Jongin’s warm eyes now hard and uncaring as the teacher drones on about History, a permanent frown replacing his old easy smile and his shoulders tense, like he’s ready to leap out of his seat any minute. He seems cold and distant and Sehun can’t help but wonder what happened to him.
Jongin darts out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang for lunch. Sehun lingers around his empty seat and sighs before heading to the cafeteria to meet Chanyeol and Baekhyun.
“So, guess what.” Baekhyun says as sets his tray on the table, sliding in his seat next to Chanyeol.
“What.” Chanyeol parrots back while he continues chomping on his sandwich.
Baekhyun glares at the side of his face and turns to face Sehun who’s absent-mindedly picking at his lunch. Baekhyun waves a hand in front of his face. “Sehun?”
He looks at him distractedly. “Mm. What?”
“You okay? You seem off.” Baekhyun asks while Chanyeol looks at him worriedly.
“I’m okay.” Sehun answers, turning back to picking on his food.
“Okay, well, remember when I asked the principal a year ago if we could have a swim club?”
Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him. “Yeah. So?”
“And he told me back then that we couldn’t because the school doesn’t have enough funds?” Baekhyun continues.
Sehun nods slowly.
Baekhyun grins. “Well, he called me to his office earlier and told me the faculty decided on increasing the funds for extracurricular activities this year and now there’s room for another club in school.”
Chanyeol and Sehun stare at him dumbly.
“In case you idiots didn’t understand,” Baekhyun sighs. “Yes, we are having our own swim club.”
Sehun gapes while Chanyeol widens his eyes, a grin spreading across his face.
“That’s great! But don’t we like, have to recruit more members before we can be an official club?” Chanyeol asks, teeth worrying his bottom lip.
Baekhyun nods. “Yeah. We need to. The principal said a minimum of five members or no club.”
“The pool. What about the pool. The school doesn’t have one.” Sehun points out.
“The school has an old pool at the back of the gym. It’s empty though and hasn’t been used for the past few years so we have to clean it up. But before we could do that, we need new members. There’s no way we can clean that place with only the three of us. So start looking for new members, yeah?” Baekhyun declares, pointing his chopsticks at them.
The two of them nod.
“Well then. I’m off. I need to go run some errands for a bit. See you later!” He shouts over his shoulder as he sips at his juice box.
Chanyeol groans after a beat. “Isn’t this too hard? People have their own clubs already. Do you even know someone who’ll be interested in being in the swim club?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Sehun answers slowly as he glances at Jongin at the other side of the cafeteria.
Sehun started swimming when he was 10.
When he went over to Jongin’s house to show him his new action figure, he somehow found himself being dragged by Jongin to his swimming lesson that his father insisted him attending. His mother told them to go ahead while she finds a parking spot for the car and Sehun let Jongin lead the way inside. Sehun could see the pool from outside the glass doors and when they got inside, the strong smell of chlorine immediately reached his nose and he found it oddly comforting. Jongin told him to sit in the bleachers while he got changed. Other people started to come in and when Jongin was done changing, it was almost time for the class to start. The instructor came in and Sehun spent the next two hours marveling at the way everyone looked while swimming, calm and composed but determined to reach the other side. Jongin was one of the people who finished first and he shot Sehun a grin before being told to catch up with the others again.
When Sehun got home, he told his parents he wanted to be in a swimming class like Jongin and they easily agreed. He was learning how to swim freestyle the week after and ended up liking the water more than he should.
The next day, Baekhyun walks into school with his arms full of rolled up posters and flyers. Chanyeol runs over to help carry some of it and Sehun tries not to shake his head at the both of them.
“What’s this?” Chanyeol asks, motioning the pile of colored papers on his hands.
“Flyers and posters for our swim club, of course. We need things like this to let people know we exist now. I also printed out a sign-up sheet for people to write in. I’ll be tacking it in the bulletin board later.” Baekhyun informs.
“You really thought about this, huh.” Sehun says while eyeing one of the flyers. It has too many colors and his eyes were starting to hurt just by looking at it.
“Of course! Since we don’t have a manager yet, I’ll be acting as the temporary manager so our club won’t fall apart. Stick these around school later, yeah?”
Baekhyun hands him a stack of flyers before pushing him inside his classroom. Sehun opens his mouth to protest but Baekhyun just smiles sweetly at him and drags Chanyeol up the stairs by the elbow.
Sehun dumps everything in front of him and heaves a sigh before settling in his seat. He’s about to push the papers under his desk when Jongin passes by, glancing at the flyers. It might be his imagination but Sehun thinks he hears Jongin mutter, “Swim club, huh.” under his breath.
At lunch, Baekhyun tells them about Huang Zitao, someone in Sehun’s year he managed to convince in joining the swim club.
“But isn’t Zitao in the track team already?” Chanyeol points out.
“He said he’ll quit track for swim club. He seemed pretty eager when I asked him in the corridors earlier. I don’t know, I think he has a crush on me.” Baekhyun answers nonchalantly, taking a bite of his lunch.
Sehun snorts at this and Baekhyun smacks him in the head.
“Does he even know how to swim?” Sehun asks, raising an eyebrow at him.
Baekhyun shrugs. “Who knows? I didn’t get the chance to ask him. It doesn’t matter anyway. We can make him run errands for us if he doesn’t know how.”
“You’re going to turn the track team’s prodigy into an errand boy? Their coach will kill you.” Sehun says
Baekhyun just waves a hand dismissively.
“Hey, hey, Sehun. Who’s that?”
Chanyeol motions at the farthest corner of the cafeteria, where Jongin sat alone.
“Oh. That’s, um, Kim Jongin.” Sehun answers quietly.
“Do you guys know each other? Are you friends? He kept looking at our table earlier.” Chanyeol asks curiously.
“Kind of. I don’t know. He’s in my class.”
Chanyeol gives him a weird look but doesn’t say anything else when Sehun shakes his head.
“Does he swim?” Baekhyun asks, eyes fixed on Jongin.
Sehun stabs a carrot with his chopsticks. “Yeah.”
“I knew it. Where else would he get arms like that? Do you think he’ll be interested in joining the swim club?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Alright then. Ask him later, okay?”
Sehun wants to protest but Baekhyun has already moved on and is talking to Chanyeol about the club uniforms. He sighs and looks over at Jongin and wonders how he should talk to him.
After their last class, Sehun rushes to Jongin before he could leave the room.
“Hey, Jongin. Uh, it’s been a long time, huh?”
Jongin turns around and gives him a cold stare. “What do you want?”
“Baekhyun hyung told me to ask you if you were, um, interested in being in the swim club with us.” Sehun says awkwardly, hands fumbling with the ends if his backpack strap.
“Not interested.” Jongin replies curtly before storming out.
Sehun sighs and starts heading home. He should’ve seen this coming.
“So, what did your friend say?” Baekhyun asks the morning after.
“He said he’s not interested.”
Baekhyun shakes his head at him. “What exactly did you tell him? I should’ve asked him myself.”
Before Sehun could even start on his reply, Baekhyun’s running towards someone ahead of them.
“Hey, you!” He shouts.
Jongin stops and looks over his shoulder while Baekhyun comes up to him. Sehun nudges at Chanyeol next to him, pleading with his eyes to make Baekhyun stop. Chanyeol just stares back at him helplessly.
“Kim Jongin, right?”
“Yeah. Who are you?” Jongin asks bluntly.
Baekhyun smiles. “Byun Baekhyun. Do you want to be in the swim club?”
“I already told-”
“Alright, welcome to the club! Be at school on Saturday morning, at the back of the gym. Club meeting. Be there, yeah? See you!”
Baekhyun starts running back to where Sehun and Chanyeol was, leaving an exasperated Jongin on his own.
Chanyeol grimaces at him. “Did you do that to Zitao, too?”
“Nah. That kid practically volunteered. And now our club has five members! As expected, Byun Baekhyun is the best.” Baekhyun says with a smirk.
Sehun should probably tell him not to get his hopes up too much.
Saturday comes and Sehun barely has the time to finish showering when Chanyeol knocks on his room, yelling at him that they should get going soon. Instead of walking, they rode their bicycles as per Chanyeol’s suggestion so they can get to school faster. Baekhyun and Zitao were already there and they can hear Baekhyun shouting at Zitao about something.
“Baekhyun, what are you doing to that kid?” Chanyeol asks exasperatedly.
Zitao was scrubbing the pool floor on his own while Baekhyun sat under the shade, fanning himself.
“Chill, he wanted to do it. The sun is bad for my skin, you know that?” Baekhyun answers pointedly.
“You could’ve at least helped him! I won’t be surprised if someone sues you someday for being cruel.”
Chanyeol throws a dirty rag at his face and runs to Zitao so he can help him. Sehun glares at Baekhyun as he trudges down the empty pool.
“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks Zitao.
He gives them both a small smile. “Yes. I’m alright.”
“That Baekhyun, really. You’re sweating so much. Do you need anything? Water, maybe?” Chanyeol continues worriedly.
“No, I’m really alright. Coach used to make us run around the field even though it was so hot.” Zitao replies with a chuckle.
“Well, okay. I’m Park Chanyeol, by the way. That’s Sehun.”
Zitao bows at the both of them. “Yes, I know him. He is in a same year as I am. Although I am not in his class. I’m Huang Zitao from 2-B.”
Chanyeol grins at him and Sehun nods while they spread out to clean the pool.
The three of them were sprawled on the pool floor, chest heaving and sweat dripping down their foreheads from spending the entire day under the sun when Baekhyun comes back from the nearest convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks.
“Look who I found lurking outside the school gates!” Baekhyun exclaims, Jongin in tow.
He had a firm hand around Jongin’s wrist, pulling him to where the others were.
Chanyeol grins. “Oh. You came?”
“Well, I-” Jongin starts haughtily but lets out a small cry when Baekhyun slaps at the back of his neck.
“You should’ve come earlier. You only came for snacks, didn’t you?”
Jongin scoffs. “I didn’t even-”
Baekhyun tsk tsks while he set everything he bought on the tiled floor.
Chanyeol and Zitao laughs as Baekhyun continues to bicker over Jongin.
Sehun smiles at him when their eyes meet and he feels satisfied at the blush creeping down to Jongin’s neck as he looks away.
By Monday, the pool was already filled up, clear blue glinting under the sun.
Baekhyun organizes a club meeting during lunch and he pulls everyone towards the back of the gym, even managing to have Jongin come along.
“We’re having our first competition in less than a month. We have to train hard.” Baekhyun announces as everyone stood at one side of the pool.
Only Chanyeol and Zitao nod enthusiastically.
“Hey, Chanyeol. Do you think Joonmyun would want to be our club manager?”
Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun like he had wings. “Kim Joonmyun? You mean the student body president? Why would he want to be a manager in our club?”
Baekhyun shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ll ask him anyway. We were both in choir before so we’re kind of friends.”
“When will out training start?” Zitao asks slowly.
“Maybe a few days from now. I still have to come up with a training regimen for everyone. But we could,” Baekhyun pauses as he pushes Sehun forcefully into the water. “Probably start now.”
Sehun can hear Baekhyun cackling as he flails around while Chanyeol scrambles to help him up.
“What is your problem, hyung? Why is it always me?” Sehun protests, splashing water on him.
Baekhyun shouts at him to stop and Sehun only makes his splashes bigger while Chanyeol and Zitao tries to hide their laughter. It didn’t last long, but Sehun thinks Jongin smiled with everyone else.
Every day after school, Sehun heads out to the pool instead of going home.
Sometimes the rest of the swim club is there, Baekhyun and Chanyeol teaching Zitao the basics while Sehun does laps again and again. Sometimes it’s him and Chanyeol, waiting for him to finish. Zitao stays at times to practice too, but doesn’t stay very long because he has things to do at home. Most of the time, Sehun’s alone, staying in the water until the sun sets.
He’s surprised when one afternoon, Jongin was already there, muscles flexing as he swam freestyle. Sehun waits until he finishes, holding a hand when Jongin finally stops. He eyes him and ignores Sehun’s waiting hand before pulling himself out the water.
“Jongin…” Sehun trails off.
He glances at him while he towels his hair dry.
“You, um, swim freestyle now? You used to swim butterfly all the time.” Sehun inquires.
“Got bored with it.” Jongin answers nonchalantly.
“Oh.”
Sehun stands awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
“Did you know? Baekhyun hyung says the two of us will be in the relay with him and Chanyeol hyung.”
A hard look sweeps across Jongin’s face. “No thanks.”
He gathers his things and heads to the bathroom. Sehun stares at him before getting ready for his swim. He stays in the water longer than usual.
Sehun’s first competition was back when he was 12.
The pool was so much bigger than the one they had for their swimming class and Sehun’s heart was thundering with nervous anticipation. Jongin had a big smile next to him as they made their way into the bathroom to change. They lined up as their names were called, Jongin in the lane next to Sehun. Both of them were in 100-meter freestyle and Jongin wiggled his eyebrows playfully at Sehun before someone blew the whistle, signaling for them to start. When Sehun dived in, he couldn’t hear anything else, not even the applause or the cheers. It was just him and the water until he finished, a loud ring blaring over the speakers as his name flickered to the top of the list at the screen overhead. Jongin’s name was under his, placing second and Sehun looks at him with a grin. Jongin didn’t look happy though, hands fisted at the sides while his shoulders shook. He got out and ran away before Sehun could ask him what was wrong.
After the awarding, Sehun looked around for Jongin to give him his silver medal because he didn’t show up to receive it. He spotted Jongin on his way out of the building and Sehun ran towards him.
“Jongin! Where are you going? You forgot your medal! Are you okay?” Sehun asked worriedly.
He snatched the medal from Sehun’s hand and tossed it in the trash.
“Leave me alone.” Jongin said, glaring at him before walking away.
Sehun was left alone wondering what went wrong.
Baekhyun started being strict when their training finally started.
They stay for three hours after school and the whole day during the weekends. When Jongin said he didn’t want to be in the relay, Baekhyun hits him hard in the head.
“I didn’t say that it was open for discussion. You are going to be in the relay. Now get moving before I hit you again.”
Jongin scowls but works on the regimen Baekhyun gave him anyway.
“I already signed us up for the relay and individual category, by the way. Everyone get moving. You too, Zitao. Practice on the things we taught you.” Baekhyun informs while he does stretches.
Everyone nods wordlessly.
“Baek, is this the right order for the relay?” Chanyeol asks, looking over a sheet of paper.
He nods. “Yeah. You go in after me then Jongin. Sehun’s last.”
Sehun pretends he doesn’t notice Jongin’s eyes on him and swims another lap.
When the day of the competition finally came, everyone was excited, even Zitao who’ll only be staying in the bleachers.
“Did we really have to wear this? It looks tacky.” Jongin says, pulling at his white jacket with red and blue stripes at the sleeves.
Baekhyun pinches his shoulder. “Our jackets are not tacky. Shut up.”
“I like it though. It makes me feel part of the team.” Zitao says shyly.
Chanyeol smiles at him and ruffles his hair. “You are part of the team. Now let’s go sign up.”
The individual category ends quickly, Sehun placing 1st in 200-meter freestyle while Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongin placed 2nd in their events. Someone announces over the PA system that the relay will start soon and asks the participating teams to get ready. Zitao cheers loudly in his seat while they took off their jackets.
“Let’s win this, yeah?” Baekhyun asks, a small smile playing at his lips.
Everyone nods, even Jongin.
Baekhyun gets ready while the teams are being announced and they can hear Zitao screaming as soon as the whistle sounded. They were off with a good start, Baekhyun ahead with the others as Chanyeol took over. Sehun watches as Jongin fidget nervously, taking deep breaths when Chanyeol was nearing. Sehun gives Jongin’s hand a reassuring squeeze, smiling when he didn’t pull away and gave a small squeeze back. Jongin jumps in as soon as Chanyeol reaches their side. The team next to them was starting to catch up and Jongin screams Sehun’s name when he finishes. Sehun hears Zitao cheering with Baekhyun and Chanyeol and he grins when he realizes Jongin’s smiling at him.
Taking a deep breath, Sehun dives.
- I want to cry why does everything suck
- free+school 2013+no breathing!au HAHA
- for whirlwindlassie, this is long overdue but ohwell thank you for answering my stupid questions about swimming goodluck with college ♥
Sehun/Kai
Sehun starts his day by sliding in the bath tub filled to the brim with cold water.
He’s too long for the small space so he pulls his legs up, gangly knees peeking out from the still water. It’s almost like this every day - him staying in the water until the sun has completely risen up and time to go to school. On better days, he’ll get off the tub early and fix himself breakfast - a cup of coffee and a serving of mackerel heaped with steaming hot rice.
Today isn’t one of the better days because he falls asleep, back plastered to the wet marble while his head hung inches away from the water. He wakes up when someone grabs him by the shoulder, trying to shake him into consciousness.
“Sehun. Sehun, wake up.” A deep voice bellows and he opens his eyes to Chanyeol grinning at him.
Sehun yawns loudly because it’s too early to be roused from sleep and all he wants is to curl back in bed or sit in the water for a little longer.
“It’s time for school, you big baby. Come on. Go strip from that awful swimming trunks of yours and take a proper shower.” Chanyeol chides, pulling at his elbow to get him moving.
He scoffs at him and bats Chanyeol’s hand away. “Hey, I happen to like these.”
Chanyeol sighs, defeated. “I know. You keep saying you don’t swim anymore but you wear your trunks all the time anyway.”
Sehun shrugs at him before stepping into the shower.
Sehun has known Chanyeol ever since they moved to their neighborhood.
He was 14 then, isolated from the rest of his class because he had the misfortune of transferring during the middle of the year and everyone already had friends to hang out with after class while he walked alone at the sidewalk.
It was one afternoon during a weekend - he was dragged by his mother out of the house to help with groceries. While she chatted idly with some of their new neighbors, Sehun was walking around when he noticed a tall boy walking towards his direction. The tall boy was heaving a bag over one shoulder, black hair wet, eyes rimmed with red and Sehun could smell the chlorine and pool water on him as he walked past. He ran next to him, almost dropping one of the shopping bags he was carrying and blurted out, “Do you swim?” without really thinking.
The tall boy looked at him, alarmed, but smiled tentatively anyway. “Yeah, I do. How’d you know?”
“I could, um, smell the pool on you.” Sehun flushed, dragging his sneakers across the pavement repeatedly
The boy laughed, loud and boisterous. “You must be used to the water too. Do you swim?”
“I… kind of.”
“Cool. I’m Chanyeol.” He said with a big grin on his face, holding out a hand for him to shake.
“Sehun.” He replied and fumbled around with the bags in his hand before taking Chanyeol’s outstretched hand.
“Nice to meet you, Sehun. Want me to show you where I swim? It’s not too far from here.” He offered while running a hand across his wet hair and Sehun nodded enthusiastically before running off to his mother to let him know where he’s going.
Chanyeol smiled at him, left eye twitching at bit, as he led the way and talked about the swim club he was in.
From then on, he’s been woken up by the same grinning face every day.
Sehun yawns again as he stares at the ocean gleaming under the sun. He can hear Chanyeol talking beside him, something about ferrets, but he couldn’t bring himself to care or even pretend to listen. He just wants to strip down to his swimming trunks and jump into the water. He shudders - it’s like he could feel the cold seeping into his skin just by thinking about it. Sehun sighs involuntarily.
“What?” Chanyeol asks, sounding slightly miffed that he couldn’t finish his story.
Sehun looks at him, distracted. “Huh? Oh, um. Nothing.”
Chanyeol sighs dramatically. “Let me guess. You’re thinking about jumping in again, aren’t you?”
He opens his mouth to answer but Chanyeol waves a hand dismissively. “Never mind. You’re always thinking about swimming.”
Sehun gives him a small nod before looking out the ocean again while Chanyeol continues telling his story from where he left off.
When the both of them get to the school gate, Baekhyun’s already hunched over his bicycle waiting for them. Waiting for Chanyeol, Sehun supposes, since they’re both in the same class and Sehun’s a year younger than them.
Chanyeol whistles and says, “Baek! Right here!”
Baekhyun looks up, gives them both a bright smile and a wave, like he always does every day.
Sehun met Baekhyun a year after he became friends with Chanyeol.
Chanyeol’s swim club practiced every afternoon during the summer so Sehun usually spent his time watching everyone swim, staying seated in the bleachers while the coach made them do laps again and again to improve their stamina.
During the last week of summer, just before school started, Sehun waited patiently for Chanyeol to finish in the shower. The other members of the swim club had already gone ahead and Sehun sat at the edge of the pool, letting his hand graze the still water in front of him. The cold sent tingles down his spine. The expanse of blue was tempting but he couldn’t do anything but sigh wistfully, determined to bring his trunks next time so he could go out for a swim when everyone else was gone.
Sehun stood up when he heard the shower being turned off and he was about to walk to the bleachers to get his things when someone with leaned over him, too close for comfort, and yelled out, “Boo!” which made him topple back in surprise. He fell into the water with a loud splash and when he surfaced, the boy was holding out a hand towards him while Sehun wheezed for air.
“Oops. Sorry.” The boy mumbled with a giggle, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Sehun took his hand and pulled himself out. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
The boy rummaged around Chanyeol’s bag and pulled out a spare towel, tossing it to him. “I’m Baekhyun. I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new?”
Sehun shook his head while running the towel over his head. “No, I’m not. I just, uh… I’m Sehun.”
Baekhyun gave him a bright smile, eyes disappearing and replied, “Nice to meet you, not new Sehun.”
The bell rings just as Sehun steps inside his homeroom. He looks over his shoulder and Chanyeol waves at him while Baekhyun mouths, “See you at lunch!” before hurrying to the next floor where their homeroom was.
Sehun manages to settle into his seat just before their teacher walks in, the class president calling everyone’s attention to bow at the same time.
“Before anything else, someone new will be joining our class. He just transferred today.” Their teacher announces.
Sehun stares at a blank part of the board, uninterested, as the door opens and a new student comes in. The class mumble to each other, curious, at the person standing in front of them.
“Greet everyone.” Their teacher says, motioning to the class.
“I’m Kim Jongin. Treat me well.”
Sehun looks over to where the new kid was. Jongin, with his brown eyes staring lazily across the room while his right hand grip the strap of his backpack. Jongin’s eyes meet with his and he widens his eyes for a moment in recognition before his gaze turns into a steely glare. Sehun wants to smile at him but Jongin looks away before he could even think twice about it.
When Sehun first met Jongin, he was 5.
It was playtime and the other kids were outside, running around the field or taking turns in the swing. Sehun stayed inside the classroom though, no matter how much his teacher convinced him to go outside. He had no friends and he didn’t like his classmates that much anyway. They were always too noisy, especially the girls. So when everyone left, he pulled out his coloring book and flipped to an uncolored picture. He was busy filling in the sun with yellow when someone came in. He paid it no attention and looked inside his box for a blue crayon so he could color the sky.
“Here. You dropped this.” A voice said.
Sehun looked at the boy standing next to his table, messy black hair and eyes that looked like he was about to fall asleep but he had a kind smile while he held out the crayon Sehun was looking for.
“Thanks.” He mumbled, going back on coloring his picture.
“I’m Jongin, from the other class. What’s your name?”
“Sehun. Oh Sehun.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Oh Sehun. Do you want some bread? I wanted to share it with my classmates but they left me all alone so...” Jongin said shyly while clutching at a brown paper bag.
Sehun nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Jongin smiled at him and pulled a chair so they could sit next to each other. They ended up finishing the picture Sehun was coloring together and playing when school ended while they waited for their parents to pick them up.
They were inseparable ever since.
All Sehun manages to do for the rest of the morning is to stare at the back of Jongin’s head. He’s seated in the row next to him, a few chairs ahead. He’s gotten taller and leaner the last time he saw him, almost two years ago. He still looks mostly the same but as Sehun stares at him, he notices the little things - Jongin’s warm eyes now hard and uncaring as the teacher drones on about History, a permanent frown replacing his old easy smile and his shoulders tense, like he’s ready to leap out of his seat any minute. He seems cold and distant and Sehun can’t help but wonder what happened to him.
Jongin darts out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang for lunch. Sehun lingers around his empty seat and sighs before heading to the cafeteria to meet Chanyeol and Baekhyun.
“So, guess what.” Baekhyun says as sets his tray on the table, sliding in his seat next to Chanyeol.
“What.” Chanyeol parrots back while he continues chomping on his sandwich.
Baekhyun glares at the side of his face and turns to face Sehun who’s absent-mindedly picking at his lunch. Baekhyun waves a hand in front of his face. “Sehun?”
He looks at him distractedly. “Mm. What?”
“You okay? You seem off.” Baekhyun asks while Chanyeol looks at him worriedly.
“I’m okay.” Sehun answers, turning back to picking on his food.
“Okay, well, remember when I asked the principal a year ago if we could have a swim club?”
Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him. “Yeah. So?”
“And he told me back then that we couldn’t because the school doesn’t have enough funds?” Baekhyun continues.
Sehun nods slowly.
Baekhyun grins. “Well, he called me to his office earlier and told me the faculty decided on increasing the funds for extracurricular activities this year and now there’s room for another club in school.”
Chanyeol and Sehun stare at him dumbly.
“In case you idiots didn’t understand,” Baekhyun sighs. “Yes, we are having our own swim club.”
Sehun gapes while Chanyeol widens his eyes, a grin spreading across his face.
“That’s great! But don’t we like, have to recruit more members before we can be an official club?” Chanyeol asks, teeth worrying his bottom lip.
Baekhyun nods. “Yeah. We need to. The principal said a minimum of five members or no club.”
“The pool. What about the pool. The school doesn’t have one.” Sehun points out.
“The school has an old pool at the back of the gym. It’s empty though and hasn’t been used for the past few years so we have to clean it up. But before we could do that, we need new members. There’s no way we can clean that place with only the three of us. So start looking for new members, yeah?” Baekhyun declares, pointing his chopsticks at them.
The two of them nod.
“Well then. I’m off. I need to go run some errands for a bit. See you later!” He shouts over his shoulder as he sips at his juice box.
Chanyeol groans after a beat. “Isn’t this too hard? People have their own clubs already. Do you even know someone who’ll be interested in being in the swim club?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Sehun answers slowly as he glances at Jongin at the other side of the cafeteria.
Sehun started swimming when he was 10.
When he went over to Jongin’s house to show him his new action figure, he somehow found himself being dragged by Jongin to his swimming lesson that his father insisted him attending. His mother told them to go ahead while she finds a parking spot for the car and Sehun let Jongin lead the way inside. Sehun could see the pool from outside the glass doors and when they got inside, the strong smell of chlorine immediately reached his nose and he found it oddly comforting. Jongin told him to sit in the bleachers while he got changed. Other people started to come in and when Jongin was done changing, it was almost time for the class to start. The instructor came in and Sehun spent the next two hours marveling at the way everyone looked while swimming, calm and composed but determined to reach the other side. Jongin was one of the people who finished first and he shot Sehun a grin before being told to catch up with the others again.
When Sehun got home, he told his parents he wanted to be in a swimming class like Jongin and they easily agreed. He was learning how to swim freestyle the week after and ended up liking the water more than he should.
The next day, Baekhyun walks into school with his arms full of rolled up posters and flyers. Chanyeol runs over to help carry some of it and Sehun tries not to shake his head at the both of them.
“What’s this?” Chanyeol asks, motioning the pile of colored papers on his hands.
“Flyers and posters for our swim club, of course. We need things like this to let people know we exist now. I also printed out a sign-up sheet for people to write in. I’ll be tacking it in the bulletin board later.” Baekhyun informs.
“You really thought about this, huh.” Sehun says while eyeing one of the flyers. It has too many colors and his eyes were starting to hurt just by looking at it.
“Of course! Since we don’t have a manager yet, I’ll be acting as the temporary manager so our club won’t fall apart. Stick these around school later, yeah?”
Baekhyun hands him a stack of flyers before pushing him inside his classroom. Sehun opens his mouth to protest but Baekhyun just smiles sweetly at him and drags Chanyeol up the stairs by the elbow.
Sehun dumps everything in front of him and heaves a sigh before settling in his seat. He’s about to push the papers under his desk when Jongin passes by, glancing at the flyers. It might be his imagination but Sehun thinks he hears Jongin mutter, “Swim club, huh.” under his breath.
At lunch, Baekhyun tells them about Huang Zitao, someone in Sehun’s year he managed to convince in joining the swim club.
“But isn’t Zitao in the track team already?” Chanyeol points out.
“He said he’ll quit track for swim club. He seemed pretty eager when I asked him in the corridors earlier. I don’t know, I think he has a crush on me.” Baekhyun answers nonchalantly, taking a bite of his lunch.
Sehun snorts at this and Baekhyun smacks him in the head.
“Does he even know how to swim?” Sehun asks, raising an eyebrow at him.
Baekhyun shrugs. “Who knows? I didn’t get the chance to ask him. It doesn’t matter anyway. We can make him run errands for us if he doesn’t know how.”
“You’re going to turn the track team’s prodigy into an errand boy? Their coach will kill you.” Sehun says
Baekhyun just waves a hand dismissively.
“Hey, hey, Sehun. Who’s that?”
Chanyeol motions at the farthest corner of the cafeteria, where Jongin sat alone.
“Oh. That’s, um, Kim Jongin.” Sehun answers quietly.
“Do you guys know each other? Are you friends? He kept looking at our table earlier.” Chanyeol asks curiously.
“Kind of. I don’t know. He’s in my class.”
Chanyeol gives him a weird look but doesn’t say anything else when Sehun shakes his head.
“Does he swim?” Baekhyun asks, eyes fixed on Jongin.
Sehun stabs a carrot with his chopsticks. “Yeah.”
“I knew it. Where else would he get arms like that? Do you think he’ll be interested in joining the swim club?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Alright then. Ask him later, okay?”
Sehun wants to protest but Baekhyun has already moved on and is talking to Chanyeol about the club uniforms. He sighs and looks over at Jongin and wonders how he should talk to him.
After their last class, Sehun rushes to Jongin before he could leave the room.
“Hey, Jongin. Uh, it’s been a long time, huh?”
Jongin turns around and gives him a cold stare. “What do you want?”
“Baekhyun hyung told me to ask you if you were, um, interested in being in the swim club with us.” Sehun says awkwardly, hands fumbling with the ends if his backpack strap.
“Not interested.” Jongin replies curtly before storming out.
Sehun sighs and starts heading home. He should’ve seen this coming.
“So, what did your friend say?” Baekhyun asks the morning after.
“He said he’s not interested.”
Baekhyun shakes his head at him. “What exactly did you tell him? I should’ve asked him myself.”
Before Sehun could even start on his reply, Baekhyun’s running towards someone ahead of them.
“Hey, you!” He shouts.
Jongin stops and looks over his shoulder while Baekhyun comes up to him. Sehun nudges at Chanyeol next to him, pleading with his eyes to make Baekhyun stop. Chanyeol just stares back at him helplessly.
“Kim Jongin, right?”
“Yeah. Who are you?” Jongin asks bluntly.
Baekhyun smiles. “Byun Baekhyun. Do you want to be in the swim club?”
“I already told-”
“Alright, welcome to the club! Be at school on Saturday morning, at the back of the gym. Club meeting. Be there, yeah? See you!”
Baekhyun starts running back to where Sehun and Chanyeol was, leaving an exasperated Jongin on his own.
Chanyeol grimaces at him. “Did you do that to Zitao, too?”
“Nah. That kid practically volunteered. And now our club has five members! As expected, Byun Baekhyun is the best.” Baekhyun says with a smirk.
Sehun should probably tell him not to get his hopes up too much.
Saturday comes and Sehun barely has the time to finish showering when Chanyeol knocks on his room, yelling at him that they should get going soon. Instead of walking, they rode their bicycles as per Chanyeol’s suggestion so they can get to school faster. Baekhyun and Zitao were already there and they can hear Baekhyun shouting at Zitao about something.
“Baekhyun, what are you doing to that kid?” Chanyeol asks exasperatedly.
Zitao was scrubbing the pool floor on his own while Baekhyun sat under the shade, fanning himself.
“Chill, he wanted to do it. The sun is bad for my skin, you know that?” Baekhyun answers pointedly.
“You could’ve at least helped him! I won’t be surprised if someone sues you someday for being cruel.”
Chanyeol throws a dirty rag at his face and runs to Zitao so he can help him. Sehun glares at Baekhyun as he trudges down the empty pool.
“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks Zitao.
He gives them both a small smile. “Yes. I’m alright.”
“That Baekhyun, really. You’re sweating so much. Do you need anything? Water, maybe?” Chanyeol continues worriedly.
“No, I’m really alright. Coach used to make us run around the field even though it was so hot.” Zitao replies with a chuckle.
“Well, okay. I’m Park Chanyeol, by the way. That’s Sehun.”
Zitao bows at the both of them. “Yes, I know him. He is in a same year as I am. Although I am not in his class. I’m Huang Zitao from 2-B.”
Chanyeol grins at him and Sehun nods while they spread out to clean the pool.
The three of them were sprawled on the pool floor, chest heaving and sweat dripping down their foreheads from spending the entire day under the sun when Baekhyun comes back from the nearest convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks.
“Look who I found lurking outside the school gates!” Baekhyun exclaims, Jongin in tow.
He had a firm hand around Jongin’s wrist, pulling him to where the others were.
Chanyeol grins. “Oh. You came?”
“Well, I-” Jongin starts haughtily but lets out a small cry when Baekhyun slaps at the back of his neck.
“You should’ve come earlier. You only came for snacks, didn’t you?”
Jongin scoffs. “I didn’t even-”
Baekhyun tsk tsks while he set everything he bought on the tiled floor.
Chanyeol and Zitao laughs as Baekhyun continues to bicker over Jongin.
Sehun smiles at him when their eyes meet and he feels satisfied at the blush creeping down to Jongin’s neck as he looks away.
By Monday, the pool was already filled up, clear blue glinting under the sun.
Baekhyun organizes a club meeting during lunch and he pulls everyone towards the back of the gym, even managing to have Jongin come along.
“We’re having our first competition in less than a month. We have to train hard.” Baekhyun announces as everyone stood at one side of the pool.
Only Chanyeol and Zitao nod enthusiastically.
“Hey, Chanyeol. Do you think Joonmyun would want to be our club manager?”
Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun like he had wings. “Kim Joonmyun? You mean the student body president? Why would he want to be a manager in our club?”
Baekhyun shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ll ask him anyway. We were both in choir before so we’re kind of friends.”
“When will out training start?” Zitao asks slowly.
“Maybe a few days from now. I still have to come up with a training regimen for everyone. But we could,” Baekhyun pauses as he pushes Sehun forcefully into the water. “Probably start now.”
Sehun can hear Baekhyun cackling as he flails around while Chanyeol scrambles to help him up.
“What is your problem, hyung? Why is it always me?” Sehun protests, splashing water on him.
Baekhyun shouts at him to stop and Sehun only makes his splashes bigger while Chanyeol and Zitao tries to hide their laughter. It didn’t last long, but Sehun thinks Jongin smiled with everyone else.
Every day after school, Sehun heads out to the pool instead of going home.
Sometimes the rest of the swim club is there, Baekhyun and Chanyeol teaching Zitao the basics while Sehun does laps again and again. Sometimes it’s him and Chanyeol, waiting for him to finish. Zitao stays at times to practice too, but doesn’t stay very long because he has things to do at home. Most of the time, Sehun’s alone, staying in the water until the sun sets.
He’s surprised when one afternoon, Jongin was already there, muscles flexing as he swam freestyle. Sehun waits until he finishes, holding a hand when Jongin finally stops. He eyes him and ignores Sehun’s waiting hand before pulling himself out the water.
“Jongin…” Sehun trails off.
He glances at him while he towels his hair dry.
“You, um, swim freestyle now? You used to swim butterfly all the time.” Sehun inquires.
“Got bored with it.” Jongin answers nonchalantly.
“Oh.”
Sehun stands awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
“Did you know? Baekhyun hyung says the two of us will be in the relay with him and Chanyeol hyung.”
A hard look sweeps across Jongin’s face. “No thanks.”
He gathers his things and heads to the bathroom. Sehun stares at him before getting ready for his swim. He stays in the water longer than usual.
Sehun’s first competition was back when he was 12.
The pool was so much bigger than the one they had for their swimming class and Sehun’s heart was thundering with nervous anticipation. Jongin had a big smile next to him as they made their way into the bathroom to change. They lined up as their names were called, Jongin in the lane next to Sehun. Both of them were in 100-meter freestyle and Jongin wiggled his eyebrows playfully at Sehun before someone blew the whistle, signaling for them to start. When Sehun dived in, he couldn’t hear anything else, not even the applause or the cheers. It was just him and the water until he finished, a loud ring blaring over the speakers as his name flickered to the top of the list at the screen overhead. Jongin’s name was under his, placing second and Sehun looks at him with a grin. Jongin didn’t look happy though, hands fisted at the sides while his shoulders shook. He got out and ran away before Sehun could ask him what was wrong.
After the awarding, Sehun looked around for Jongin to give him his silver medal because he didn’t show up to receive it. He spotted Jongin on his way out of the building and Sehun ran towards him.
“Jongin! Where are you going? You forgot your medal! Are you okay?” Sehun asked worriedly.
He snatched the medal from Sehun’s hand and tossed it in the trash.
“Leave me alone.” Jongin said, glaring at him before walking away.
Sehun was left alone wondering what went wrong.
Baekhyun started being strict when their training finally started.
They stay for three hours after school and the whole day during the weekends. When Jongin said he didn’t want to be in the relay, Baekhyun hits him hard in the head.
“I didn’t say that it was open for discussion. You are going to be in the relay. Now get moving before I hit you again.”
Jongin scowls but works on the regimen Baekhyun gave him anyway.
“I already signed us up for the relay and individual category, by the way. Everyone get moving. You too, Zitao. Practice on the things we taught you.” Baekhyun informs while he does stretches.
Everyone nods wordlessly.
“Baek, is this the right order for the relay?” Chanyeol asks, looking over a sheet of paper.
He nods. “Yeah. You go in after me then Jongin. Sehun’s last.”
Sehun pretends he doesn’t notice Jongin’s eyes on him and swims another lap.
When the day of the competition finally came, everyone was excited, even Zitao who’ll only be staying in the bleachers.
“Did we really have to wear this? It looks tacky.” Jongin says, pulling at his white jacket with red and blue stripes at the sleeves.
Baekhyun pinches his shoulder. “Our jackets are not tacky. Shut up.”
“I like it though. It makes me feel part of the team.” Zitao says shyly.
Chanyeol smiles at him and ruffles his hair. “You are part of the team. Now let’s go sign up.”
The individual category ends quickly, Sehun placing 1st in 200-meter freestyle while Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongin placed 2nd in their events. Someone announces over the PA system that the relay will start soon and asks the participating teams to get ready. Zitao cheers loudly in his seat while they took off their jackets.
“Let’s win this, yeah?” Baekhyun asks, a small smile playing at his lips.
Everyone nods, even Jongin.
Baekhyun gets ready while the teams are being announced and they can hear Zitao screaming as soon as the whistle sounded. They were off with a good start, Baekhyun ahead with the others as Chanyeol took over. Sehun watches as Jongin fidget nervously, taking deep breaths when Chanyeol was nearing. Sehun gives Jongin’s hand a reassuring squeeze, smiling when he didn’t pull away and gave a small squeeze back. Jongin jumps in as soon as Chanyeol reaches their side. The team next to them was starting to catch up and Jongin screams Sehun’s name when he finishes. Sehun hears Zitao cheering with Baekhyun and Chanyeol and he grins when he realizes Jongin’s smiling at him.
Taking a deep breath, Sehun dives.
- I want to cry why does everything suck
- free+school 2013+no breathing!au HAHA
- for whirlwindlassie, this is long overdue but ohwell thank you for answering my stupid questions about swimming goodluck with college ♥