Work Text:
NEED HELP?
Call xB, odd job master extraordinaire!
- Dog walking
- Babysitting/petsitting
- Moving furniture, boxes, etc.
- Picking up deliveries
- Just spending time
- Something else? Just ask and we can figure it out!
(I do not have certification in plumbing, wiring, etc. Please call a professional for that stuff. I AM NOT A THERAPIST. I'm just a guy who likes to help out.)
Questions? Got a job for me? Call 555-2368!
xB smoothed out the flyer on the pole, then scrunched up the old one and threw it in the nearest trash bin. All the little tabs with his information on them had been taken from it, and besides, there had been rain a couple days ago, so it was time for a round of replacements. Then he returned to his bike, with its teal frame and chipped orange lettering, and with more flyers strapped to the basket on the back. He took a swig from his water bottle, checked a list on his phone, and pedaled off. xB had enough repeat customers that he almost didn't need to advertise anymore, but it would be nice if he could get all the posters replaced today, before he was scheduled to head off to his other job.
He finished up his stack of posters just in time - and had planned it so that the last one he replaced was the one closest to the beach. xB locked up his bike, hurried into the lifeguard house, and threw on a uniform shirt, making sure he grabbed the one with the slice cut down the back. Then he shrugged his hoodie back on over the top, grabbed his equipment, and headed out onto the beach.
xB was the only lifeguard who wore long sleeves and closed-toe shoes to his job, which sometimes got him some odd looks. But, as long as his uniform shirt was showing so people knew who to go to, his bosses didn't mind. He was one of the best they had in the city. And he had his reasons for dressing the way he did.
The afternoon was uneventful. He had to break up a little disorderly conduct, but no one was really endangered. While xB did kind of wish he could go in the water soon, he was on duty and would only leave his post for a rescue. And he definitely didn't want someone to have a possibly-traumatic ocean experience just so that he could go for a swim. The ocean could wait until his shift was done.
-----
Saturday came, and xB was up early as usual. Saturday mornings were one of the busiest times at the beach, so he was scheduled to be there soon, before any of the other appointments he'd made. He stretched, rolled his shoulders, and walked the two to three steps from his bed to the kitchen of about the same size for a quick breakfast. The apartment was definitely not the most luxurious place around, but it did the job. xB didn't exactly spend a lot of time there anyway. He habitually patted the head of the white husky plushie he kept on top of a cupboard. It traveled with him wherever he went; xB didn’t mind the lifestyle he was living now, but he did sometimes wish he had the space - and was allowed - to have a real dog.
His phone vibrated halfway to work, and when he got to the guardhouse, he saw why. A notice had been put up for lifeguards and beachgoers alike, warning about the currents today - not bad enough to close the beach, but enough to watch out for. xB knew he didn't need to worry about it for his own sake, but it was his job to know and act accordingly. He got his uniform on, put his hoodie and loose shoes over it, and headed out.
From his high post, it was easy to see the calm-looking gap in the waves. It was right in xB's surveyable area, and he kept a close eye on it as he also watched the busy beach.
An hour or so later, a problem arose. Someone was playing just a little too close to the still spot. The next moment, they were being swept out to sea.
xB was out of his chair almost before it happened. He threw off his hoodie, dropped it next to the chair as he grabbed his rescue buoy, and ran for the water. Two steps from the edge, he kicked off his shoes, leaving a few webbed footprints to be quickly washed away by a wave.
As soon as he ducked underwater, he let the fish-like fins on his forearms extend to help steer him through the rip current. A similar-looking dorsal fin pushed through the slit in the back of his shirt. Gill slits on his neck let him breathe in the water, but with his powerful swimming strokes and an extra push he gave himself from the water itself, xB was past the rip current in seconds. He popped his head up near the current's victim: a youngish child, who clearly knew how to swim, but was understandably terrified at being literally and figuratively in over her head.
Treading water himself, xB pulled his float closer and offered it to her. The girl grabbed onto it gratefully.
"You're doing just fine," xB reassured her. "What's your name?"
"I'm Katie." She hauled herself up until her chest was resting on the float and peeked over the other side. "Are you a fish man?"
xB let out a surprised laugh. "You're perceptive." He took a quick look around to make sure he wouldn't be too rushed - or too visible - then rested one arm next to Katie to show off. Katie's eyes widened in awe. She traced her finger along the leading edges of xB's arm fin, giggling when xB moved it back and forth under her hand.
"Let's get you back to shore, okay?" xB turned around, looping the rescue buoy's lead around himself to leave his arms free. "Gotta get you back to your family."
Katie nodded and wrapped herself around the float more tightly. "Yeah."
xB took off, putting himself at an angle to the shore to make sure he got both of them far away from the rip current. He made sure not to go too fast and knock the kid off, but she was also holding on well. When it got too shallow to swim, xB flattened his fins as far down as they would go before he stood up and pulled Katie onto dry land. "Now, no one else knows I've got these, okay? And I'd like to keep it that way."
"You got a secret identity!" Katie gasped. "Like all the superheroes do! Are you a superhero?"
xB hesitated. Before he could answer, an adult - he assumed Katie's mom - came running up. "Oh, thank you!! Katie, are you okay?"
xB smiled, keeping his arms turned at a certain angle and slightly behind him. "Just doing my job, ma'am. You two might want to stay over on this section of beach, alright? Keep away from that little flat spot between waves in future."
"Of course we will." The woman picked up Katie in a hug.
As xB waded back to his post, Katie waved and grinned. "Thanks, Mr. Normal Lifeguard Man!!"
xB stayed in the water until he neared the point where he entered, not wanting to walk with his webbed feet out in the open. Unfortunately, he couldn't find his shoes.
He sighed. He knew he had left them nearby... maybe a little too close? Had his shoes gotten swept up in the current too-?
"Nice save."
xB spun around. An older gentleman was standing just out of the water - and holding xB's shoes. He looked familiar, but xB couldn't immediately place where he might know the guy.
"...All in a day's work," xB replied warily. "May I have my shoes back, please?"
The man laughed. "Absolutely." He tossed them casually back to xB. "Most people can't just go around bein' supers in public, after all."
xB froze. "You, uh...?"
"You hide it well, for someone with physical signs and no training. You pass among civilians. But I know what I'm looking for, and what I saw was an impossibly fast rescue. That's a little bit of a tell for us. Plus, of course, you got flustered when I brought it up." He chuckled again.
xB couldn't help but smile sheepishly in return as he put his shoes back on. The two started walking back across the beach, and xB noticed the man had a slight limp. Upon closer inspection, he realized that part of the man's leg was a very convincing prosthetic.
Pieces clicked into place: retirement age, looked familiar, talking about supers like he was one himself, lost his leg in battle. xB stopped in his tracks. "Oh my god you're the Time Field Captain."
The man laughed. "Wondered how long it'd take ya! Yes I am, but don't say it too loud now. Now that I've seen you in action, I was wondering if you ever considered joining the Hermiton House of Heroes."
xB's heart was racing faster than it had on his most tense of rescues. "Uh. N-no, I hadn't really thought about it. Didn't think I had the chops..."
They reached the lifeguard chair. "Um, maybe we could talk about it more when I get off duty at noon? There's this really good fish 'n' chips place."
"Sounds tasty. It looks like you need some time, anyway." Another short laugh, kind, sympathetic, not teasing. "I'll see ya around."
-----
xB arrived to the lunch place second. "Hello again, Mr., um...? Time-?"
"No one uses my full super name," he laughed. "Especially not since I retired. People just go by what they used to see on the shirt. And none of the 'mister' or 'sir' stuff either, alright? Just TFC is fine."
"Gotcha." The casual air did wonders to calm xB's nerves, though not completely by any means. "Funny, I go by initials too. I'm xB."
"Oh, is it your posters I see on every street corner? I take it you don't have a super name for yourself."
"I don't, no. And yeah, those are my posters. I like to help people out."
"You're a good fit for the HHH, then."
"My... skills are so specific, though. Just the fish fins and a little bit of pushing water around. I'm no Super Volt or Sol Star or X-morph."
"X-morph doesn't even have innate superpowers like a lot of us do. He has his crazy suit is what he's got."
"Yeah, but just his suit can do more than I do. Heck, he could probably literally copy my powers just by letting it analyze a salmon."
"Heh, I don't know about that. Even if it could, so what? You're you. We always need more heroes around; even X-morph can't be in two places at once - and he's tried, as you probably know. Anyway, X is always busy fiddling with that suit of his to be ready for 'the big stuff'. You're out here saving lives with your powers every single day!"
"But... wouldn't that change if I joined the HHH?"
"Not much. There aren't many full-time supers out there - they all have civilian lives and names like you do. The HHH just gives us the freedom to be superheroes without worrying quite as much about the double life. You'd be working the same shifts at the beach that you always do and no one would be any wiser about it."
"That does sound tempting," xB admitted. "Could I have a bit more time to think about this?"
"Of course." TFC handed xB a business card for the HHH. "It'd be nice if you could let us know one way or the other within, oh, a week or so though, so don't put it off!"
"Alright." xB noted with some embarrassment that his hands were still shaking. "Thank you. It's been an honor to talk with you."
TFC waved off the compliment. "None of that starstruck fan stuff, you hear?" he scolded, but there was a smile behind it. "By the way, if you do decide to join up, they'll ask for your hero alias. Pick whatever you want, but if I may offer a suggestion?"
"Oookay?"
TFC grinned. "Try 'The Coast Guardian' on for size."
"'The Coast Guardian'..." xB repeated. It did sound pretty cool. He could be the Coast Guardian, he thought. "Huh! Well... thanks. I'll definitely call you guys back soon."
"Happy to hear that." TFC smiled to himself again as they both left the restaurant. He had a feeling he already knew what path the young hero would choose.