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As the days got longer and the Utah sun got hotter and hotter, one of the primary, and really only steady release from the relentless heat was to go to the recreation center and take a nice swim. Which was exactly the plan today, even if it meant a short walk to and from the center in the blazing sun. EJ, ever the diligent prepper, kept a swim bag ready throughout the whole fall and spring that contained everything one could possibly need, the towel, the swimsuit itself, the extra clothes, all of it. He also packed a spare of everything for Ricky, who did have his own bag, but tended to forget something or another. EJ had wondered at first if he was encouraging a bad habit by not allowing Ricky to make the mistake and suffer for it, but he’d always remember the sad brown puppy eyes across from him as Ricky had to put the same sweaty sticky clothes back on that he’d worn the whole day, and that visual reaffirmed his choice to always keep spares for Ricky in his bag.
The walk to the rec center was as miserable as ever, with the air so dry it felt like all the moisture in your body was being sucked out bit by bit…while you were also still sweating everywhere. “Ugggh,” Ricky groaned, forcing a dripping, sweaty curl out of his eyes, “85 degrees in April? Global warming has to be real, there’s no way it isn’t.” He growled in frustration as his hair fell in his eyes again, “Okay, I really need a haircut…maybe I should just buy a razor and shave it all off myself.”
“Just another minute or so and you can rinse all that sweat away,” EJ tried to maintain a cheerful attitude, even as he too was baking, “and I swear if you touch those curls I’m going to not talk to you for a week.”
“But don’t you think it’d be so much cooler and easier?” Ricky smirked, clearly half-joking, “you wouldn’t want to abandon your hot stud of a boyfriend just because he wanted to stave off the heat, right?” he blinked bashfully. EJ shoved him playfully on the side of the head, just enough to briefly knock him off course, but they both laughed as Ricky staggered back into the walking pattern.
“Okay, in all seriousness, if you reeeally want to not go to a professional, at least let me try to trim it for you, deal?”
Ricky sighed dramatically, “You drive a hard bargain Mr. Caswell, but I suppose I can live with that.”
Stepping through the doors of the rec center felt like it dropped the temperature by 20 degrees, though realistically it was just getting out of the endless sunlight. Swiping their school IDs to make their way through, EJ glanced through the windows leading to the locker room and assessed the current pool crowd. “Huh, looks like a slower day today than usual. We’ll have more room to spread out.”
“You mean you’ll have more room to show off how smoothly you can move through the water while I struggle to keep up,” Ricky nudged him in the side, “or is today a teaching day, oh wise Mentor Caswell?”
“Well that depends, is my student going to behave himself and not get distracted this time?” EJ teased back, gazing directly into his boyfriend’s eyes.
Ricky smiled with a mischievous glint in his eye and pecked EJ on the cheek before brushing past him, holding open the door into the locker room, “I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we?” EJ rolled his eyes, but headed inside, Ricky right on his heels.
Once they got inside, EJ immediately made a beeline for the furthest shower, grateful that it was unoccupied at the moment and had a door that latched. Ricky gave him a knowing look and slipped into the shower right next door, and the next minutes passed in total silence, save for the spray of the water and occasional splat of a foot against the tile floor. They emerged at about the same time too, Ricky wearing muted red swim trunks and EJ wearing a tighter, though not speedo level tight, blue suit with a light grey swim shirt. For just a moment they stared at each other, until EJ reached out and brushed Ricky’s torso with the tips of his fingertips, breaking the silence with, “Yup, my boyfriend’s just as shredded as ever.” Ricky laughed aloud, the sound echoing in the limited locker room space, and just tugged on EJ’s wrist to hurry up. After stowing their bags in the lockers, it was pool time.
EJ hopped in with the ease and poise one would expect from someone who’d done it a thousand times, but Ricky, as ever, dipped in slowly, step by step, before EJ got impatient and yanked him by the arm, causing him to fall face first the rest of the way into the water. He emerged with a gasp, tossing his hair out of his face and grinning at EJ, “Oh it’s on now, Elton.” Ricky dipped his hands in the water and sprayed water all over EJ’s face, causing him to sputter backwards briefly before recovering and slashing his arm through the water to return fire. Before Ricky could launch a counteroffensive to his counteroffensive, EJ let himself fall the rest of the way backwards and slipped under the water, maneuvering his way to behind Ricky, who was blinded just long enough by the splash to not notice EJ’s approach until EJ’s hand was around his ankle and Ricky had been pulled underwater. The water in this side of the pool was only about four feet deep, but by securing a secondary grip on his waist, EJ was still able to tug Ricky playfully towards the pool’s floor, where he managed an underwater peck on the nose before Ricky struggled out of his grip and kicked away, smiling all the while. EJ surfaced for air and was granted just enough time to do so before Ricky’s next splash collided with his nostrils, evoking a fresh sputter and stumble. As he was preparing to fight back yet again, EJ noticed the sole lifeguard staring at them like she might have to intervene, so he managed a smile and wave and waded his way towards Ricky peacefully.
“What say we call off the war before we get in trouble?” EJ laughed, floating the rest of the way. Ricky feigned a resigned sigh and half-heartedly splashed a little more water against EJ’s torso, but stepped closer to him and rested his hand on EJ’s shoulder.
“I suppose,” he sighed dramatically, “I mean I can’t say no to that face.” EJ leaned in closer, but the moment was interrupted by a ball whizzing past EJ’s head, so close that had he not just tilted his neck downward, it likely would’ve clocked him directly. EJ whipped his head around to see three athletes, whom he recognized as part of the school’s water polo team, looking at them in shock, the one directly across from them looking particularly mortified at almost hitting someone. EJ reached out and snagged the ball out of the water as the nearest boy half walked-half swam over to retrieve it.
“Hey…sorry about that, Aidan got a little carried away on the hit…good thing you ducked a bit,” he said sheepishly. EJ tossed him the ball back without responding.
Looking between EJ and the athlete, Ricky managed a, “Uh…good luck next week!”
“Oh! Thank you…how’d you know we have a match next week?”
“Just a lucky guess,” Ricky fibbed.
“Well, alright then,” the guy looked as though he didn’t quite believe it, but floated away anyway, his eyes lingering on EJ’s shirt, “we’ll try to be a bit more careful, we promise!” EJ watched him swim away and then turned his attention back to Ricky.
“Sorry about that, where were we?”
“I saw him staring too, EJ, you don’t have to pretend you didn’t notice.”
“Oh I did, I just don’t really care,” EJ planted a kiss on Ricky’s forehead, “I prefer it to the alternative anyway. Now, back to your lessons, I think we were on breaststroke…”
“Eej,” Ricky said severely, causing EJ to freeze in the water, “you promise you don’t want to talk about it?”
“I swear I don’t, I just want to have a fun day here at the pool with my boyfriend,” EJ sighed.
“Then let’s do that,” the smile returned to Ricky’s face as he slid deeper into the water, “this is a breaststroke, right?” Ricky mimicked the dramatic forward arm movement of the butterfly stroke, though with enough flair that he mostly just slammed the water in front of him and didn’t gain much momentum.
EJ couldn’t restrain his laughter, “Bowen, that’s basically the exact opposite of how you do it.”
“Oh, really? Maybe if I turn on my back…” Ricky joked, flipping over and this time performing the scooping motion of the breaststroke…albeit upside down.
“What happened to my student being diligent and attentive today?” EJ managed in between his laughter.
“Hey, did I ever actually promise that?” Ricky smirked as he drifted past, lazily kicking his feet. Having a thought, EJ dove under the water, preparing to surface right underneath Ricky, but instead found himself looking up into Ricky’s grinning face. Nevertheless, EJ persisted and managed to heave Ricky up out of the water by the waist, though only by a few inches, just enough for EJ’s head to get above the water too. “Woah! What am I doing up here?” Ricky said in pretend surprise, though he wasn’t exactly trying to wriggle free.
“I was thinking perhaps if you get so distracted while you’re in the water itself, then maybe you could learn better if you focus on the movements while you’re up there,” EJ teased.
“Well, I suppose I could give it a try, though if you’re grabbing me so firmly by the hips, Teach, I might still get distracted,” Ricky joked, tilting his head so he could wink at EJ. To EJ’s slight surprise, Ricky did actually attempt the breaststroke as EJ had described it the last time he’d attempted to teach Ricky, demonstrating the simultaneous outward arcing motions and even managing to keep his hands well separated. He looked back down at EJ, “Do I get a passing grade, Professor?” EJ playfully responded by slipping out from under him and allowing Ricky to plummet back into the water, where he resurfaced immediately, giggling before his mouth had even left the water.
“You’ve got the movement style down, but now you have to demonstrate that you can do the real deal…think you can catch me?” EJ tilted his head to the side, before spinning around and dropping fully into the water himself, kicking forward and zipping through the water towards the far wall, relishing the feeling as he rose and fell above and below the surface. EJ restrained himself from swimming at full strength, not wanting to leave Ricky with an impossible task, but he was pleasantly surprised when he flip turned at the other side of the pool and Ricky was close enough that he and EJ could lock eyes as EJ shot past underneath him before flipping back over to continue swimming. They were about 3/4 of the way back to the other end when EJ felt fingers wrap around his right ankle and stopped swimming, with Ricky triumphantly emerging after releasing EJ’s ankle under the water.
“Now do I get the passing grade?” Ricky smirked, shaking his head and spraying droplets into EJ’s face, “or does it only count if I catch you when you’re actually trying?”
“Hey, I was trying…just, not at 100%,” EJ grinned, and you did still get me faster than I thought you would, so…what kind of reward would you like for your outstanding performance, my young apprentice?” EJ bowed overdramatically, dunking his head underwater in the process.
“How about you teach me how to do that fancy flip you did to get underneath me?” Ricky asked once EJ was above water, that way I can catch you even faster next time,” he grinned.
EJ feigned shock and horror, “Richard Bowen, wanting to learn and do more work? Who are you and what have you done with the real Ricky?!” Ricky laughed and dove forward, his momentum pushing EJ backwards and sending them both sinking to the bottom of the pool once more, where this time Ricky was the one who kissed him while they were down, this time on his neck for a passionate few seconds, before smiling and pushing off of EJ to return to the surface and catch his breath. EJ soon followed.
Ricky was stretching when EJ surfaced, and EJ found himself just…staring. At the rivulets of water tracing their way down Ricky’s chest, at the well defined arms Ricky had put so much time into these past few years, at the carefree aura Ricky just seemed to…emit. Ricky noticed EJ’s fixed gaze and laughed a bit nervously, “What? Is there something on my face?”
EJ swam closer and wrapped his arms around Ricky, pulling him into a hug, “No, I’m just in awe that you exist.” EJ held him for a few seconds longer and then released him, letting them both pull away. “Now,” EJ rubbed his hands together, “let’s see if you can learn how to flip turn without getting a gallon of water up your nose.”
***
Ricky yawned as he trudged back to EJ’s room from the showers, swiping the ID he’d borrowed from EJ to gain entrance to EJ’s dorm room. EJ had been sitting, shirtless, on his bed, but when Ricky entered he instinctively dropped to behind the bed on the other side and threw his towel back around himself. “It’s just me!” Ricky said cheerfully. EJ let out a sigh of relief and dropped the towel, clampering back onto the bed and onto his back.
“You know it’s incredibly convenient, both of us having singles this year,” EJ grinned as Ricky sat down next to him, still drying his hair, “last year with your roommate situation was just…yikes.”
“Okay Billy wasn’t all bad,” Ricky argued back, “but he was pretty overly strict about the whole ‘no significant others allowed in the dorm room’ policy, I’ll give you that.”
“Did he think we were going to get down and dirty on his bed or something?” EJ laughed, “but…we don’t have to worry about that now.” He smiled up at Ricky, who grinned back and ran a finger down EJ’s sternum.
“I missed seeing this chest today,” he cooed, then immediately regretted it, “sorry, I shouldn’t–”
“No, don’t worry about it,” EJ cut him off, “it’s…I think at some point I’ll be ready for it…just not yet. Not when it all still feels so…recent.” Ricky gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before shuffling over to his drawer of the dresser where he retrieved a pair of shorts, underwear, and a shirt that he’d wear tomorrow, setting them out lest EJ badger him about being prepared. His eyes fell on one of the sweatshirts sitting in the drawer, one he’d…borrowed, from EJ a while back, that had ‘East High Water Polo’ printed across the front in bold white letters.
Ricky absentmindedly ran his thumb over the text, thinking back to earlier that day. “Do you ever miss water polo?” he blurted out, then quickly added, “I mean you keep track of our college’s game schedule even though you never applied to join the team, so…”
EJ rolled over to face Ricky and saw the sweatshirt under his finger, “Depends on what you mean by missing it, I guess. The part I liked most was the camaraderie and the team bonding and all that, and I still have that now. With the band, with the chess club, with the GSA, all of that. But if you mean the sport itself…I guess not really.”
“You guess?” Ricky turned quizzically.
EJ shifted uncomfortably on the bed, “I didn’t really have a huge amount of say in starting the sport to begin with, so…I guess I never really got that attached to it. It was my parents’ idea originally, to go for some difficult, rarer sport to increase the likelihood that colleges would want me. And I…listened. Because I trusted them back then.”
Ricky released his grip on the sweatshirt and walked back over to sit on the edge of the bed, leaning backwards into EJ’s torso, “So…why do you love the water so much? I mean you’re an actual animal once you get going, I’ve watched you do laps where you’re taking it seriously Eej.” EJ opened his mouth and Ricky immediately snapped, “And don’t you dare try to deny it.”
EJ chuckled softly and wrapped his free arm around Ricky to pull him closer. “I guess the water is the fun part to me. The relief and the freedom of mobility, the fact that it literally drowns out everything else and lets you just…be for a while, even if you eventually have to come back to the noise.”
Ricky sat for a moment, “How did you manage to turn that into something I feel like I’d hear in a Philosophy lecture?”
EJ grinned back at him, “It’s a gift, rumor has it that once you start down the Education track you suddenly gain the ability to turn everything into a life lesson.”
“Oh is that how that works? I thought it was just you,” Ricky giggled and prodded EJ in the stomach, causing EJ to roll over onto his back, letting Ricky topple over backwards, his head landing on EJ’s chest.
EJ toyed with Ricky’s damp curls as he mused a bit more, “The swimming was the part that stuck with me. My parents tried to turn it into a whole life-changing need to succeed, a competitive drive, or whatever, but I just…liked the water. When they tried to get me to do drills in the backyard pool sometimes, I would play along until they were out of sight and then do my own thing. As long as I performed when it mattered…it’s not like they’d notice.”
“In a way that’s at least a gift…kinda,” Ricky muttered under his breath, “not that they should get any credit for it.”
EJ shrugged, “I guess so, yeah. It’s not like they left me with much else except experiences. But hey, at least that means you get a super talented teacher to help you swim better,” EJ nudged Ricky’s neck with his hip, leading to an eye roll but a soft smile along with it.
“You are a pretty good teacher,” Ricky giggled, sliding his body higher up the bed as he slipped off the basketball shorts he’d thrown on after the shower. EJ extracted his torso from underneath Ricky and followed suit in removing his shorts, before clambering up over Ricky, hands planted on either side of Ricky’s head, EJ gazing straight down at him.
“And you, Ricky Bowen, are a great student…at least these days,” EJ teased. Just as he was leaning in to kiss Ricky, an aching pain shot raced through him with a chill and his left hand gave out on him, leaving him to tumble off the side and luckily only crash into the wall instead of off the bed entirely.
“EJ?! EJ!” Ricky shouted in a panic, holding himself back from touching EJ just in case he made it worse, “Eej, talk to me, what can I do?”
“I’m–I’m fine,” EJ managed to choke out between sporadic breaths, “I just…give me a second…” He tried to force himself to breathe slower, even as his lungs yelled at him to speed up, but he couldn’t quite calm his heartbeat, and the ache was still there, duller, but threatening to flare at any moment.
Ricky slid closer and hesitatingly wrapped his arms around EJ, his hands naturally falling on EJ’s back, causing EJ to flinch involuntarily, but Ricky’s touch brought a warmth back to him that had slipped away in the moments prior. As Ricky’s fingers wrapped tighter, they reached the spot where the ache had originated, and it ebbed, slowly, but surely, until EJ’s breath had returned to a peaceful rhythm.
“Was that…okay?” Ricky asked in a trembling voice. EJ managed to nod an affirmation, gulping down the last of the adrenaline.
“Yeah it’s–it’s gone. For now…” EJ sighed, “I'm sorry I ruined the moment.”
“You’re the one who keeps telling me not to apologize for stuff I can’t control,” Ricky chided him.
“I just wish I knew how to get rid of it,” EJ murmured, “sometimes I feel like…it’ll haunt me forever, even if I try to push it away.”
“That part doesn’t matter to me,” Ricky pushed EJ’s hair out of his eyes with a gentle smile, “I–I can’t just fix it…neither of us can. But…I’m always going to be here to help however I can.”
Tears welled in the corners of EJ’s eyes as he nuzzled up to Ricky’s chest, “What did I do to deserve you?”
Ricky pulled him tighter and kissed the top of his head, “You’re you, EJ, isn’t that enough?”