Archive of Our Own

When the kids got too much and Percy's parents needed them out of the house, he would take his younger siblings to the community pool. While they raced around the house screaming as they got in their bathing suits, Percy would pick out all the towels, folding them into the bottom of a large bag with the sunscreen placed on top. Then he'd slide his homework into his own personal bag and shepherd his younger siblings on the ten minute walk to the pool. He'd force sunscreen on all of them once they arrived (Fred and George always resisting the most), and then he'd sit down in a pool chair far away from the water and do his work while his siblings cannonballed into the pool.

Percy did not like the water, or the sun, or having to deal with his obnoxious siblings, but at least while they were occupied in the pool, he could do his work without being interrupted. He just had to make sure it was packed away before they came running back, flinging water around like a pack of dogs. Ginny would usually jump onto his lap, soaking through his pants and leaving mark where her shins rested across his legs. Fred and George would make sure to shake their hair out over Percy to splatter him with water from head to foot. At least Ron only clung to Percy's feet with his wet hands, but that tickled and so he would end up knocking Ginny into his chest so his shirt was ruined too.

Today, though, Percy did not have time to put away his work, and it was only Ginny who came running up. 

"My homework!" he yelped when she dripped all over his papers.

"It's Fred!" she yelled over him. "You have to help!"

"What about Fred?" But his attention was already drawn to the commotion in the water. Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

One of the lifeguards was hoisting a boy out of the water, and Percy's heart jumped into his throat. "Fred." George clambered out of the pool after them.

Percy ran forward, dropping to his knees next to them as the lifeguard pressed down on Fred's chest. Almost immediately, water exploded out of his mouth, and Fred rolled over, coughs wracking his body.

"Alright," the lifeguard was saying, "that's right, you're okay."

"Did I die?" Fred croaked.

"No you didn't die," Percy responded, clasping one of Fred's hands as the lifeguard guided him into a sitting position.

"Are you sure I'm not dead? I feel like I died."

"You think I'd be here if you were dead?"

Percy didn't think what he'd said was that funny, but the lifeguard barked out a laugh and Fred cracked a weak smile.

George leaned over Percy, pressing wet skin against his shirt but for once Percy didn't mind. "Yeah, I don't think us and Percy are going to the same place when we die."

"Alright," said the lifeguard, smile still on his face from whatever joke Percy had made. "Let's get you away from the poolside for a bit. Where's your stuff located?" [it's probably a bad idea to move somebody who almost drowned, but this is fiction]

Percy waved his hand in the general direction, starting to stand up. "In the back over there."

The lifeguard scooped Fred up in his arms and followed Percy to his pool chair before setting Fred back down on it. The lifeguard stood up and turned to Percy, and Percy was a little thrown off when he noticed for the first time that the lifeguard was about his age.

"He should be okay," the lifeguard said. "I'd watch him for a little bit just to make sure all the water's out, and no more swimming for the rest of the day probably. But he's not in any danger of dying."

Percy let a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He glanced at Fred, who was now making faces at George. Yeah, he was fine. He turned back to the lifeguard. "Thanks for saving him. I probably should've been paying more attention, so thanks."

The lifeguard grinned, and Percy's heart stuttered. Now that he wasn't focused on Fred, he was met with a very shirtless teen with a very nice smile. "No worries dude, that's why I'm here."

"Uh, yeah, right." Did Percy still have his tongue? Did he swallow it? There was a lot of tanned skin on display.

"Percy!" Fred whined, and Percy snapped right back to his brother. "Don't tell Mum, okay? She'll never let us come back. We promise we'll be more careful next time."

He glanced back the lifeguard with the glowing skin and glowing smile before eyeing Fred. "If you don't do anything reckless, I'll think about it." Fred was right, though, and if Percy was going to see the lifeguard again....

"Well, I gotta go back to watching the pool. Call me over if you need anything. See you around, Percy." The lifeguard sauntered off with a wave.

Percy blamed his pink cheeks on a sunburn.

***

He didn't tell Mum, and everyone gave him a funny look when he suggested going back to the pool at the same time next weekend.

"It's not even that hot!" Ron complained as Percy urged him to grab his stuff.

"And I'm tired!" Ginny whined.

"You know I don't really need them out of the house right now," Mum assured.

"We're going," Percy said, final.

He made sure to keep an extra close eye on Fred and George this time, but his homework took a back seat when it came between watching the lifeguard. He was shirtless again, and from this distance, Percy could secretly ogle the muscle tone in his arms and abs.

Then they locked eyes.

Percy snapped his homework up over his face, but that didn't stop him from catching a glimpse of the lifeguard's grin. Heart pounding and cheeks definitely not red from sunburn, Percy steadfastly kept his homework up to block the view of any shirtless man, lifeguard or not.

After finally calming down, Percy slowly lowered his papers. 

The lifeguard was right in front of him.

Percy's arms jerked in surprise, and suddenly his papers were fluttering all around him and tumbling to the not-quite-dry-enough ground. "Fiddlesticks." He leaped off the pool chair and scrambled across the ground, snatching at his papers as they started to get picked up by the wind.

"Sorry for startling you, man. Here." The lifeguard shoved a handful of Percy's papers at him. 

For a moment, panic seized him, but the lifeguard's hands were dry so the papers were only a little sodden from the ground. Crisis averted, Percy took the papers back and shuffled them into a neat stack.

"I'm Oliver."

Percy looked back up, and was once again distracted by the expanse of skin before him. "Uh," he started, forgetting his manners for a moment. But good manners were written into his very being, so by sheer force of habit he managed to say, "Nice to meet you. I'm Percy."

"Uh, yeah, I remember. From last time."

"Right. Well."

"Oh! Uh, how's your brother doing?"

Percy almost dropped his papers again as he leaned to look around Oliver. Fred's head was safely above water. Ron was sitting on the side of the pool kicking his feet to splash him. George had Ginny on his shoulders. That probably wasn't safe, but one of the other lifeguards was already talking to them. With this confirmation that all his siblings were in place, Percy turned his attention back towards Oliver. "He's doing good, yeah. Keeps cracking jokes about the whole thing, so at least he's not traumatized."

"That's good. Usually if someone gets rescued, they don't come back for a while. And I notice you guys come a lot, so I'm glad that didn't stop you."

"You notice?"

It might've just been Percy's imagination, but he swore Oliver's cheeks turned pink under that tan skin. "Uh, yeah, well, you know you're siblings can get pretty rowdy, and the other lifeguards usually make me tell them off."

Percy winced. "Sorry."

Oliver waved his hands in front of him in denial. "No, no! Really, it's not a big deal. I'm just the most hardcore out of all of us, so it usually sticks better when I tell people they need to stop doing something."

"That's... good."

"Yeah, well if the other lifeguards were better at their jobs, I wouldn't have to. Katie and Angelina are great, but McClaggen and the others really need to step up their game. Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in young children, so it's important we all do our job. You gotta let kids be kids sometimes, but you gotta make sure they're safe while they're at it." He heaved a breath. "Sorry for ranting at you, McClaggen just gets away with more than he should."

"It's fine. It's good that you care about the kids. I mean, thanks again, for saving Fred. I would never have forgiven myself if something happened."

"No worries, dude. I'm glad he's okay. Um, but I gotta," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point back towards the pool, "back to saving lives."

Percy smiled. "Keep the twins from getting too rowdy."

"Always. See you around, dude." And with that he made his way back to the edge of the pool.

***

"Hey." Oliver was back again, in all his shirtless glory. Percy made sure to keep his eyes on Oliver's face, though that smile still did funny things to his gut. "Sorry again about last week and making all your work go everywhere."

"It's fine. They dried off and I can still read them all." They were oddly stiff in places, and would crunch instead of crinkling when he shuffled them around, but he was just thankful they survived.

"Anyway, so, what are you working on?" Oliver nodded to his papers. 

On instinct, Percy clutched them tighter to his chest. "Just homework."

"It looked really gnarly."

"Ah, well it's AP Physics." Percy looked down at the work on the top page, equations that it took him over an hour to derive and solve written in a neat line.

"Epic. You must be really smart, then."

Normally, Percy would boast about his intellect, but he already felt too embarrassed about the whole situation. Oliver was still shirtless. "Yeah," is what he ended up saying. Way to look cool.

"Cool, well just wanted to make sure I didn't make you fail an assignment or something because I got your papers wet."

"No, it's fine. All there." If it was his notes that gotten wet and not his homework, though, he definitely would've had to rewrite them on to fresh, not-crunchy paper.

"Awesome. You know, in case it happens again, maybe could get some plastic covers to protect them."

"That's... actually not a bad idea. Thanks, Oliver." Percy smiled, and the lifeguard's ears turned pink.

"'Course. My break's almost up, though. Later, dude." He scurried away, and Percy made sure to write himself a note about getting some plastic sleeves for his work.

***

"Hey man."

Percy looked up from his book, and there was the shirtless lifeguard again.

"Uh, yeah, so it's my break now. And I just was wondering what you were reading?" His hand was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. Percy's eyes drifted just to the left of his ear, watching the muscles flex in his arm with the movement. "You just looked so absorbed in it, so I thought it was probably a cool book."

Right, he'd asked a question. "It's called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

"But it's a good book?"

"It's a classic! Personally, I think everyone should read it."

"Maybe I could borrow it sometime?"

Percy blinked. I don't lend out my books, is what he wanted to say (and what he repeatedly told everyone in his family, particularly Fred and George when they ransacked his room), but Oliver looked so earnest with his timid smile. And so deliciously shirtless. "Yeah, sure."

Oliver's smiled brightened into something stunning. "Sick! I look forward to it."

He did lend Oliver the book the following week, and Percy couldn't complain too much about the damp corners after Oliver returned it when they spent his entire break discussing the book.

***

"Do you wanna sit down?" Percy folded his knees in to make room on the poolchair.

"Uh..." Oliver looked over his shoulder at a couple of the other lifeguards.

Percy felt himself flush. "I mean, you spend all day standing around the pool, and you always come stand over here on your breaks, so I just thought you might want to sit down for a bit. But you don't have to--"

He just about flung himself down onto the end of the chair. "Yes! I want to." He looked back over at the other lifeguards, and the two girls waved ecstatically and blew kisses. Oliver dropped his head into his hands. "Please ignore Angelina and Katie. They think they're being funny."

"That's probably why Fred and George like them."

"Everybody likes them. I guess I'm no one's favorite lifeguard."

"Well, I think you're pretty good."

A grin slowly spread across Oliver's face. "So I'm your favorite lifeguard?"

"You're the only one I talk to, so by that logic, you're my least favorite as well."

"I'll take it."

***

Oliver sat on Percy's pool chair, skin glinting golden in the sunlight. The only thing that glowed more was his smile.

Percy had on the widest brim hat he could find, one with floppy sides that covered his ears and shaded his entire face and neck. His sleeves were rolled down to his wrist, but he had made sure his button up was white and breathable so he wouldn't get too hot. The damp towel George had flung at him earlier was now spread over his bare shins. His  SPF 100 sunscreen was safely stowed in his bag so he could reapply every two hours, and try to force it on his siblings in preparation for the fifteen minute walk back to their house.

Before he started talking to Oliver, he would've had his papers organized neatly in his clipboard, the ones he wasn't currently writing on slipped inside protective plastic sheets. Now, his papers were still organized on his clipboard, but they were all inside plastic sheets and resting untouched on his lap. He could do work anytime, but Oliver was only around on his breaks (of course, Percy didn't mind watching him from afar, but it was nicer to actually talk to him).

Oliver reached out a finger and flicked the brim of his hat.  "New digs?"

"That's... not even how that phrase is supposed to be used." Percy reached up to make sure his hat was still in place.

Oliver rolled his eyes in response. "Your hat's pretty rad."

"Thanks. I just figured since Fred and George replaced the sunscreen with ranch dressing last week, I should bring it so I don't become a lobster again."

"Your cheeks still do look a little pink."

Percy was pretty sure that wasn't because of the sunburn, but he wasn't about to correct him. "Tell that to Fred and George. My skin's been peeling off all week. It's disgusting. I bet you don't even burn." He eyed Oliver's brown skin with envy.

"I don't, no. But now I don't have an excuse to wear big, floppy hats."

"Anyone can wear big floppy hats. Here." And before he could think about what he was doing, Percy pulled his hat off his head, leaned over, and dropped it on Oliver. "Happy?"

Oliver's face was in shade, but his grin was still bright. The hat made him look a little dorky. "As long as you won't get sunburned again."

Percy straightened and said proudly, "I have a timer on my phone set for when I need to reapply sunscreen."

"Oliver!" one of the other lifeguards called. "Break's up, get off your rendezvous chair!"

"Be right there, Angelina," he called back before turning back to Percy. "Oh! You should take your hat back." He stood up and bent down, slipping the hat back on Percy's head. He reached up to tighten the strap at Percy's chin, fingers grazing against Percy's jaw, and then flicked the hat brim in finality. "I think you may need to reset your timer. You must've gotten sunburned already." He gave a cheeky grin and walked away after the lifeguard called him over a final time.

Percy clapped his hands over his burning cheeks. Maybe applying more sunscreen wouldn't help the real problem, but it could hide his blush.

***

Oliver wasn't at the pool. It was the normal time that weekend, and Percy had just deposited his siblings at the pool and himself in the poolchair at the back. But when his eyes scanned the area around the pool, Oliver was nowhere to be seen. It was possible he was just at the bathroom, or working in the backroom. But after an hour and no Oliver, Percy was starting to get twitchy.

So he steeled himself, put his papers away so they wouldn't get wet, and marched over to one of the lifeguards who looked like she was just getting off shift.

"Hi," he started, but then wasn't sure how to continue.

She smiled at him. "Hi! What can I do for ya?"

"Uh, I was just wondering about... uh, about Oliver?"

Her grin widened into something more resembling a smirk. "We had to switch some shifts around this week. He really didn't want to, can't imagine why, but that's why McClaggen's here today." She gestured towards the lifeguard who was swaggering around the pool and not paying attention to the kids in the water. "But I'll let Oliver know you asked about him."

"No, no, that's okay. You really don't need to do that." He took a half-step back to prepare for his retreat

She shrugged. "Well, don't tell him I told you, but he always talks about you. The mysterious redhead who never gets in the water and must be super smart since he's always reading and doing super hard work. And now that he talks to you on all his breaks, he just can't shut up about you." 

"Well--that's--" Percy stammered eloquently. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm. It's much more interesting than when goes on long-winded speeches about optimizing our schedules. Safety's important, but there's no reason for us to show up two hours before this place opens, yet he keeps trying to make it happen. Anyway, I'll definitely let him know you said hi."

***

"So," Oliver started, folding himself down on Percy's poolchair. "Katie said you were worried about me."

Percy stared resolutely at his work, though his pencil stilled. "Not worried. I was only wondering where you were."

"So you were lonely."

"No." He flicked his eyes up and arched an eyebrow. "I actually thrive off of silence and solitariness."

"So that's why you hide in the corner."

"Staying far away from Fred and George is one of my top priorities."

"But what about being near me?"

Percy hummed in thought, but shook his head. "You've had to deal with Fred and George before. I think you can understand why that supersedes anything else."

"Fair enough."

***

Suddenly he was falling, the ground disappearing from underneath his feet. As he flew sideways, arms flailing about to grab onto something that wasn't there, Percy pondered why he could never notice it earlier when Fred and George got that mischievous glint in their eyes. They'd been running around the pool (the one rule everyone knew not to break), so he'd stalked over and started lecturing them with the help of one lifeguard Oliver Wood. That was when he noticed their matching grins, and now here he was, pinwheeling his arms in a futile attempt to stay on dry ground. All he managed to do was smack Oliver, who was tumbling in beside him. He hit the water hard, sinking down in shock for several seconds before spluttering back to the surface. "Fred!" he barked, "George!" He could hear them laughing beyond the pool, but all he could see were hunched over blurs. "My glasses!"

He couldn't see. His soaked shirt was plastered to his skin and his pants buoyed around his legs. Water dripped down his face and into his eyes, but his glasses were floating somewhere around him, and there was no way he'd be able to find them. Fred and George would probably break them, and then Ron would have to guide him home. Percy swished his hands through the water, hoping against hope that he'd feel them somewhere, but nothing. "I can't find my glasses."

Someone else popped up in his vision. "Here, I've got them," said Oliver, and Percy started to reach his hand out for them. But there were two brown blurs reaching for his face and then suddenly he could see. Percy blinked as Oliver fingers brushed against his temples. He smiled as he retracted his hands, and Percy could still feel the skin around his glasses tingling from the touch.

Lifeguard Oliver Wood was still very shirtless.

And Percy's clothes were very, very wet.

He rounded on Fred and George, still doubled over and cackling. "You! I'll tell Mum what you did, and she'll ground you for the rest of your lives!"

"That's also a serious warning for you," Oliver added next to him. "No pushing people into the pool. Not to mention you were running earlier. I have to ban you for the rest of the day, dudes."

They whined and complained and tried to get the other lifeguards to take a different stance, but Oliver held firm so they sullenly drudged over to Percy's chair.

Percy made his way to the edge of the pool where Oliver was already starting to get out. His back muscles rippled as he hoisted himself out. Percy pulled himself out next, and just stood there looking down at himself as his clothes stuck to him and dripped onto the concrete. He looked up when Oliver clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Well you finally got into the water. Only took you two months."

"Actually this is the first time I've been in the pool since I was eight." That was around when Ginny was born, and he'd considered himself far too mature for childish things like playing.

Oliver laughed, bright and cheery. "Sorry it had to be under these circumstances, then. We've got a changing room you can use, why don't I get you some spare clothes you can change into."

"Thank god."

He followed Oliver into one of the backrooms used by the lifeguards, to a bin of red clothes.

"Are you sure I can wear those?" Percy asked as Oliver started digging through them, instead of asking Are those even clean? like he really wanted to.

"Yeah, sure. We mostly keep them around for cold days or when we have to work behind the desk, and since I'm Head Life Guard, I'd say I have the authority to hand them out to bedraggled boys." He turned with a grin, handing over the bundle of red clothes.

"I'm not bedraggled."

"If you say so. Just make sure to return them when you come back."

The lifeguard sweats were a little short in the arms and legs, and had the word LIFEGUARD blocked out across the front, but it was much better than spending the rest of the day in sopping wet clothes.

"Red's not your color," Oliver decided when he stepped out of the changing room.

Percy flushed. "I know."

Oliver clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Cheer up, dude, at least you don't have to hang around in wet clothes." He glanced down at the clothes and made a face. "Could be neon pink, and I bet that'd be worse."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"Anything for my favorite pool boy."

"I'd shove you in the pool if Fred and George hadn't just done it."

***

Fred and George were grounded for two weeks. And Percy convinced Mum that they would take it more seriously if he continued to take Ron and Ginny to pool. It wasn't at all because he wanted to see Oliver.

Percy made to return the clothes that weekend, but as he was pulling them out of his bag to hand them back, Oliver quickly shoved them back in and pulled Percy around the corner of the main building.

"My boss is here today," Oliver explained in a whisper as they pressed themselves against the wall. "I know I gave a whole speech about being Head Lifeguard, but McGonagall actually pays me, and she would skin me if she found I lent those clothes to you." He peeked around the corner, and then they were off again. He pulled Percy into the backroom with a grin. "We should be safe here."

Percy took out the clothes and finally passed them over. "I imagine this is what it feels like to be a drug dealer."

Oliver laughed and dropped the clothes in their original bin. Percy winced, and was thankful he had washed them at home and extra glad he had showered after taking them off considering Oliver hadn't bothered to ask if they'd been washed.

The door creaked open, and then Oliver was dragging Percy around again. This time to a small closet in the corner. Oliver shoved them both in and closed the door behind them.

"What are you doing?" Percy hissed, his back shoved against the wall and his elbow in a bucket.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Oliver whispered back. His face was shoved against the door so he could peer out the crack.

"But you're allowed to be here! Why'd you have to stick us both in here?" Percy was just noticing how close they were in this tiny closet.

Oliver tossed a grin over his shoulder, and Percy's heart stuttered in his chest. "I couldn't think of a good reason why I'd be in here, so I thought I should hide too."

"Well now we're both trapped here. And there's no room." He wiggled around to prove his point, but that only reminded him of Oliver's state of undress when his hand slipped over bare shoulder.

"There'd be more room if you stopped moving around, dude."

Percy froze, his hand still on Oliver's shoulder but now something was jabbing him in the back. "Is she gone?"

"Not yet."

"Okay, well I gotta--" Percy shimmied around some more, pressing on Oliver's shoulder so he could maneuver the thing away from his back. This is something Fred and George were known for doing, not a respectable person like Percy. And especially not with a half-naked person. "You are never dragging me to hide in a cupboard again," he hissed in Oliver's ear.

Oliver turned to look at him, and suddenly they were face to face. "Cool your jets, dude" he whispered, and Percy could feel his breath fanning across his face. "It's a once in a lifetime experience to be locked in a cupboard with me."

Percy huffed. "Well that's a rubbish once in a lifetime experience."

Oliver grinned and turned back to peering through the crack. "Great, McGonagall's gone. We can get out of the closet now."

***

Every weekend, Percy would drag his siblings to the pool, though sometimes it was them dragging him. And every weekend, Oliver would come sit on Percy's poolchair during his breaks.

One day Ginny ran over, arms flailing and water flying off her like a hurricane. Percy scrambled to shove his work into his bag before she launched herself at him and soaked through his shirt. And she did with a shriek, but she faced out, away from him, arms flung wide. "I'm here to save you from the scary lifeguard!"

Percy grabbed her by the armpits and hoisted her off his lap, depositing her on the ground beside them. "He's not scary."

"Yes he is. He always gets Fred and George in trouble, and always blows his whistle really loudly."

"That's because he's trying to keep everyone safe."

She looked back and forth between them, finally settling her gaze on Percy. "So he's not being mean to you?"

"No. But I'll let you know if he ever is, and then you can come save me."

Ginny nodded her approval, but didn't take her gaze from Oliver. "You promise to not be mean to him?"

"Never." Oliver was looking at Percy when he said it. Then a smirk took over his face, and he said, "Well, only if he deserves it."

"But Fred and George say he always deserves it!"

"You did shove me in a janitor closet," Percy pointed out.

Ginny stared at him aghast. "That's meaner than Fred and George!"

"I went with him, though. It's like we were pulling a prank. Don't your brothers' hide places together when they prank?"

"But Percy never does funny things."

"Oookay," Percy said, and started to shoo Ginny away. "That's enough out of you. Oliver's very nice, but he'll ban you from the pool if you don't leave us alone."

"You wouldn't!"

Oliver grinned. "Maybe not, but your brother's very persuasive."

Ginny shrieked, but then Ron was grabbing her by the wrist and bringing her laughing back for a game of Marco Polo.

"I swear these kids, sometimes." Percy rubbed his temple to try to ease his headache.

"It's sweet how much she cares," Oliver teased. "Very serious in her threats."

"As long as she doesn't get the twins in it on, I think you'll be okay."

"You wouldn't protect me?"

Percy eyed the muscle tone in Oliver's arms. "I think you'd have a better shot of protecting me."

"I'd happily be your knight in shining swimming trunks."

***

"Why'd you become a lifeguard?" Percy asked, genuinely curious. 

"I started in junior lifeguards, actually. During the summer I work at the beach, but during the school year it's easier to come here on weekends and in the evenings."

"You must be really busy."

"Nah, not like you at least. I don't take 20 AP classes." He poked Percy's knee at the tease, and Percy batted his hand away.

"You actually save people's lives."

"Yeah, but I mostly started just so I could stay near the water during the off-season. Stay in shape too."

"Off-season?"

"I surf competitively."

Percy stared at him. "What?"

"Competitive surfing? Ever heard of it?"

Percy shook his head. How did anyone win? By not falling off their board? That seemed like an arbitrary binary rule that wouldn't make for a very interesting sport.

But Oliver's eyes were lighting up. "Here, give me your phone and I'll show you some gnarly videos."

With slight trepidation, Percy passed over his phone and watched as Oliver tapped away at the screen before flipping it back around to show him.

"This lady won the National Championship last year and she's super awesome! Watch her tail slide, it's totally epic."

***

Percy was sitting doing work at his desk that night when his phone chimed with a message. His eyebrows furrowed at the name "Your Favorite Lifeguard ;)" but he opened up the message.

There was a string of random letters sent from Percy himself, and he briefly wondered if Fred and George had played a prank on him. But Your Favorite Lifeguard ;) had sent back "this is Oliver! hope u dont mind that i stole your number" with another winky face.

Percy rolled his eyes, but typed back, "Who said you're my favorite lifeguard?"

Almost immediately, in came "i don't see u letting anyone else share your poolchair" accompanied by several more winky faces.

Face burning, he smashed out "I'm doing homework" and then chucked his phone on the bed. 

***

Percy could've sworn they were flirting over text. Repeatedly throughout the week, he would have to turn his phone off and put it away because his face was steaming and his heart wouldn't stop its rapid pitter-patter in his chest. But once he was at the pool, Oliver acted the same as always on his breaks. In Percy's opinion, calling someone "dude" was not a preferred way to romance them, but it was hard to tell with Oliver.

It was the day before their weekly trip to the pool and Percy was messaging Oliver, but when his "You're always walking around with your shirt off" was met with "u like seeing me with my shirt off," Percy didn't remember what the conversation had been about. But still, he couldn't stop himself from responding "Maybe I do" and he stared at the message after it sent and wished he could pull it back. His phone buzzed once, twice, three times, and Percy couldn't bring himself to look at it. He shut it off and buried his burning face in his hands, then launched himself onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. What was he thinking? Sending that to Oliver? He did not need to know that Percy would sometimes (regularly) watch him walking around than pool rather than do his homework.

He almost didn't want to go to the pool that weekend, but Mum looked more harried than usual after Fred and George tried to blow up a toilet, so he steeled himself and rallied his siblings for the journey. He did his best to not look at Oliver. There was no way he'd be able to look him in the eye, but that meant staring at his bare chest, which was even worse.

But Oliver still ambled his way over on his break. Percy resolutely stared at the physics equations scrawled haphazardly on his paper.

"Hey."

"Hi." Percy continued to stare at his work. He could see Oliver shifting on the edges of his vision.

"Did you get my texts last night?"

"No." He flicked his eyes up, and Oliver was staring straight at him with an intensity Percy had only seen when Oliver was sweeping the pool and scouring for dangerous situations. Percy looked away and fiddled with his pen. "Fred and George took my phone, and then they broke it."

"Then what's that right there?"

Percy followed Oliver's outstretched hand to the phone sitting next to Percy on the poolchair. "Ah, well, that's... That's my phone. But it doesn't turn on anymore."

Oliver quirked an eyebrow.

"I just brought in case it does turn on."

"Well why don't you try now."

"Right." Percy hesitated, reached for the phone but aborted the motion halfway through. But Oliver was still standing there, staring at him, so Percy grabbed his phone and held the power button. Unsurprisingly, the screen blinked to life. "Hah, well, that's lucky. Now I won't need to get a new phone. Ha ha."

Oliver did not look impressed. He crossed his arms over his chest, one of his fingers tapping against his bicep.

The notification popped up on Percy's lock screen: seven messages from Your Favorite Lifeguard ;). With a deep breath, he opened their message thread. "Maybe I do" glinted mockingly from his side of the conversation, but Percy quickly scrolled past that so he didn't die from embarrassment. 

Seven messages from Oliver. The first three immediately after Percy's message.
wait, really
i was just joking
r u actually serious?

The next time stamp was 20:34, two hours after the last message.
Percy?

Then at 21:16, he'd messaged again.
i'd like to see u shirtless too
shit was tht 2 forward? were u jsut joking?

There was another 10 minute break before the final message.
fuck sorry

Percy stared at the messages, reading them over and over again. When he looked back up, Oliver looked a little green.

"So?" he prompted.

Only one thing was going through Percy's mind. So of course that's what he blurted out. "You want to see me shirtless?"

Oliver shuffled his feet, uncrossed and re-crossed his arms. "That's-- well-- you weren't-- that's not what you were supposed to take away from that. I thought you were mad, dude. Or that you actually didn't get them, and then I didn't want you to get those out of nowhere. So...." He shuffled his feet around more, looked over his shoulder at the other lifeguards before locking eyes back on Percy. "But you're not mad?"

"No."

"And Fred and George didn't break your phone?"

"No," he relented.

Oliver's grin turned cheeky. "So you do like seeing me shirtless."

Percy's eyes trailed over the naked skin. It wasn't like he could deny that. "Sometimes."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I kissed you?"

What? his brain short-circuited. But his mouth still knew what to say, "No."

"No?" Oliver's face turned stricken.

Percy's mind rewound the past several seconds. "That's a 'no, I wouldn't mind' not a 'no, you can't kiss me.'"

"Awesome." Oliver leaned down, reached out to cradle Percy's jaw in his hands, and pressed their lips together. Percy fisted his hands into the slats of the poolchair as Oliver's thumb stroked across his cheek. His lips were warm from the sun, and little chapped, and it felt perfect.

"So you wanna see me shirtless?" Percy teased in a whisper when they broke apart.

Oliver's lips quirked into a smile. "Maybe I do." And he leaned back in.