Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gillion Lanakila Tidestrider (yes, his last name is Tidestrider.) loves to paddle board. Every morning he wakes up with the sun, eats his breakfast (the term eats is used loosely here as the man downs the sugariest cereal he can find, it will come right back out in a matter of a few hours.), grabs his equipment and makes the 30 minute drive to Saltwater State Park. He jovially plunks his boat into the water, stretches his legs while yawning with his comically big bright white teeth, and sets off for an hour or so. It’s his routine, Gillion has built most of his current life on it. And during his morning paddle boat ride, he doesn’t think about the fact that his inbox is empty, or other stupid adult stuff. He just paddles.

Usually nobody else is there when he goes out for his dawn ride, minus the workers, and tired runners trying to make good on their exercising regimen. So he has the water to himself. It’s the perfect environment to meditate, give his thanks, these days he has few, and calm himself before his long shift at The Undersea indoor water park where he works as a lifeguard. He didn’t have to think of it all, enjoying the cool of the morning breeze blowing off of the water, eyes occasionally even shutting. What he wasn’t used to was the sight of a tall red head dropping her things everywhere, clearly inexperienced. He could’ve kept going, he had to leave in 15 minutes to make it to his shift in time after a shower and a change, but something pulled at him. He quickly shifted the angle of his oar, and made his way over.

Chip James on the other hand? He fucking hates paddle boarding, and he hates Jay for bringing him there. She was stood there tying up the abundance of loose fiery curls on her head into a large ponytail, determined, even if she had no idea what she was doing, neither of them did. They had rented the paddle boards from the park staff, and then realized it was illegal without life jackets so they bought those while they were there too. Chip was blowing a stray strand of his brown hair out of his face when another cool breeze made its way off of the water and sunk into his freezing bones pretty much.

Okay not his bones but SHIT, cold.

“Can you remind me why we’re doing this?” he demanded, trying to rub some life into his arms covered in a long sleeve swim shirt, like that was going to protect him from the arctic tundra. Jay groaned, spinning around on her heels with one of her eyebrows raised to Chip’s huddled, toddler posture.

“You never leave your dorm, and you won’t run or go to the gym with me, and online it says this is fun. So- we’re trying it!” her smile was wide and awkward, like she had too much sun in her face to keep it properly contained, at least that’s what she looked like to him. Even if he was freezing his ass off in the 6 am sunrise, water looked dark, much too dark for his liking, and it also looked much too cold. Also, he had to pee. This was not ideal.

“Let me take a piss first before my balls shrivel and disappear.” he grumbled with no decorum as he stalked away, boots crunching on the slightly frosted grass, it hadn’t even thawed yet. Meaning, Chip should be asleep right now, after a week full of classes with his hard ass professors and his job (he got fired from waffle house, if you can believe it). He did not want to be here, going to the bathroom in a freezing porta potty.

Jay Ferin is pretty sure she can lift these paddle boards all by herself. She lifts, maybe only once a week, but she does. She's strong and lean with a pale complexion and smatterings of freckles all over her. Her arms are toned, her back and legs are toned, and her features are the perfect mix of sharp yet soft. Her hair, when it's not up in its messy conglomeration of a pony tail, reaches her lower back in a bright ginger. She takes a quick moment to think that maybe lifting these two paddle boards on top of each other is a bad idea, but that’s quickly squashed by her desire to stack the paddle boards on top of each other and put them in the water. Half so she can rub it in Chip’s scrawny face, and half so that she can prove she can do it. They had rented two for their travels. She bends down, brushing strands of her hair out of her face and wraps strong arms around the both of them before determinedly lifting them off of the ground.

It went about as expected, the boards spilled from her overfilled hands, landed directly on her foot with an accompanied yelp and a god dammit. To top it all off a loud, scraping, clunking sound rings out on the concrete boat ramp. Fantastic.

“Stupid fucking Jay Ferin thinking she can- can lift the boards all by herself- and now they’re- UGH- everywhere!” and now her shoes were wet and her feet were freezing and this was all one great big blunder and fuck her stupid gay ass li-

“Hello there! Can I help you maybe?” there was paddling from the distance, and Jay craned her head, which had previously been lowered in defeat and there he was. Standing on his white and blue board, tanned brown skin wrapped in a blue muscle tee and black biker shorts, and also weirdly no shoes. With shaggy curls tied up in a bun on the back of his head, and a bright smile lighting up his face, the voice that had called out to her must’ve belonged to this guy. He was paddle boarding standing up, Jay was working with a professional here.

“Oh my uh- boarding.. Partner? My friend, he’s just in the bathroom and he’ll..” Her words were falling on deaf ears as the man let a bare foot drop into the freezing water and splashed his way over to the embarrassing scene in front of Jay. His face was friendly, she didn’t have a desire to punch it or run away, so that was okay, “oh.. You just came over here. Okay.”

He helped to pick up the boards and set them in the water calmly with beefy arms Jay noted, completely normally. Water was getting all up his forearms and dripping back down into the river all the while he happily rambled to the stranger, his voice had an odd formal inflection. “Ah don’t worry, don't even sweat it. They can be heavy, I love helping those who are starting out! I’m Gillion Tidestrider, I come out to the park every sunrise, helps to set the balance before I go off and complete my shift.” Jay felt incredibly awkward with her empty hands and cold feet, she finally managed to pick up one of the paddles while the guy- Gillion- helped to make sure everything was alright, even splashing water on them to clean the surface from the scuffing.

“Well uh- Gillion- thanks for your help, I’m sure we can- do you have any tips? Like any? At all? I’m Jay by the way.” Way to go Jay that wasn’t completely weird at all. But Gillion still smiled, his pretty flat and round nose wrinkling and his bright blue eyes squinting and he even laughed a little bit, point one Jay! She didn’t fuck it up with knight of the river bed!

“Finding a balance point is the most important thing, stay in the center and row like a kayak, mighty steed. You’ll go fast in the current! To turn, pump the brakes and go backwards first, but that’s just-” he shrugs, the water makes a splish noise as he moves towards his board, “logical. You’ve got it, I believe in you!” and Jay watches Gillion climb back on, completely ignoring the ankle strap, get up and grab his paddle.

“Ah- thank you! I’ll make sure to tell Chip- my friend, my friend is named Chip.” she was still standing there awkwardly holding her paddle, and looking at the boards in the water like they may eat her, but at least she had some semblance of real instructions, she was athletic, she could do this. And Chip.. he could- he definitely could try. He wasn’t terribly unfit, he just didn’t leave the house much, which also was okay, I guess, it just really bothered Jay.. And she guessed her solution was dragging him outside to do something that could get him freezing, sore and wet. Because that made sense.

Gillion was already rowing away, waving enthusiastically as he did and any idea of thinking the guy was cool was shattered as he started to hum a silly tune and wiggle his body. Rowing as he used the end of the pole as a microphone. Okay, so the guy was weird like Jay, that at least made her feel a little better. She waited a little bit as he sailed away before she got back to work finding the oars and setting them up right as Chip came back outside.

He looked grumpy, like a cat that was dragged out by the scruff of its neck and a tail coiled between its legs with those airplane ears. He had on the longest red swim shorts he could find and a black swim shirt that hugged his body. His hair was long and shaggy and a mid toned brown with his red bandana across his forehead. The skin on his face was decorated in a few big freckles and his tone was a darker olive, more pale from the lack of sunlight. Peeks of tattoos poked out in the sleeves of the shirt and collar. Chip always felt pretty average, maybe even subpar, but he wasn’t really thinking about that, he was dreading this.

“Okay wait while I was in the bathroom, I’ve come up with- like- a bargain.” his voice was lightly desperate, and he felt like a wimp as he tiptoed towards the water that started to lap at his shoes, his almost amber eyes were pleading as he stood at the edge, he couldn’t even get another word in before Jay rounded on him with a finger pointed right at him, she looked excited.

“We are doing this! Because- some- guy came outta nowhere and like helped me and gave me advice so we aren’t on our own and we’re doing it. Get on the board.” Jay was more confident than Chip on the regular, she was wearing a thick dusty pink sweatshirt over her swimsuit, her swim shorts were tight to her body underneath, and there was goosebumps all along her legs as she stood in the water before awkwardly hopping up on the board and adjusting herself quickly.

“Some guy talked to you? And you talked back? Where’s Jay Ferin?” Chip teased as he finally committed, pathetically climbing onto the other one and shrieking as he fixed his balance, ending up sitting crisscrossed, wet boots dripping water.

“He was really nice actually, he said that he uh- comes out here every morning he’s like our age. Buff. As hell.”

“Huh. That uh- glad you weren’t dumb enough to get murdered by him. Or something. What’d he say?”

“How to turn, and stuff- gotta back up first and.. Stuff. We can do this. You know how to swim right?”

“DUDE! Of course I fucking know how to swim.”

Neither of them ended up falling in, not for a lack of trying, Jay fell flat on her stomach twice desperately trying to keep her balance, Chip belly laughing at her and falling flat on his back dunking his entire right arm, making him scream high enough to break glass.

In the distance, as the scream and the shouts of “it’s fucking cold!” traveled across the quiet park, following the rising sun, Gillion’s ears perked at the sound where he was loading his equipment back into his small car, the tip of the board practically touched his windshield and his oars balanced in between the front seats. It sounded like whoever he had helped was having fun though.

Good for them, time for his shift.

Chapter Text

When Gillion was a kid, he wanted to be a marine biologist. He was in love with the water, growing up in Florida meant that he was constantly being dragged out of it or yelled at for splashing in swamps and coming home disgusting and covered in grime. And he was in love with everything that lived in the water. Aquatic animals saved him, he would study them at school, in the library, on the family computer, he wanted to spend his life studying them.

Now he was a lifeguard, but children were sort of like animals, a little bit less civilized maybe.

Another routine Gillion had was coming home from his morning excursion. First and foremost, he had to give his very affectionate and very stubborn cat Pretzel attention. A pretty orange tabby with a nicked ear and a loud meow who always waits by his apartment door for him and rubs on his legs. She doesn’t care if Gill is carrying a board, she will take her cuddles now please.

“Good morning Pretzel!” Gillion’s voice is joyous as he shifts his oar from one hand to his hand holding the board, and picks up his pet with the other, the meowing instantly stops, soft fur and scratchy pink collar rubbing against his neck as she climbs onto his shoulders to balance there like a little spider. She was happy and sated, so Gill was too, walking towards his kitchen for his water, and then he would go and take his shower.

Gillion’s apartment was more barren than the average person, almost like he only existed there to leave it again. His morning gear laid haphazardly on his table and living room floor. There were white walls, with a couple posters hanging of cool aquariums and bands, tan carpet leading to a small gray couch and a TV. His bedroom was a simple twin bed and a blue sheet set, and a small octopus plush. His closet door was constantly open with clothes hung up neatly or lying on the floor. The entire place only had a few windows letting in light and illuminating the dust in the home. It was quaint, small, undecorated, but it was Gillion’s. Yay.

His shower was quick, he didn’t feel it all that necessary minus the mid sudsy shampoo concert with his brush handle. He was a lifeguard, he was infinitely wet!

Wait-

“Gillion Tidestrider I’m back again,” his toothbrush obscuring his speech hung in his mouth as he took his blow dryer to his curls, tilting his head and squinting his eyes to the dry heat, he really hated drying his hair. Or just dryness in general, something unexplainable about just irked him deeply. Same with a lot of things, and noises, and too many people, it all irked him. He was sure there was something perfectly explainable about it. He said that to himself most mornings as he tied up his now dry curls into a ponytail. “I’m the one, I'm the champion.”

His uniform for his job was pretty classic as he got dressed, a white shirt with the Undersea logo on it (a small golden triton surrounded by blue designs). His shorts were a royal blue. Classic lifeguard things. He tied the string to his shorts as he hopped on one foot to wiggle his sandal onto his foot, waterproof and reliable and also he hated shoes so much it made his teeth itch. When he locks the door to his apartment again, he waves goodbye to Pretzel who sat herself in the window. Then, he makes his way down all of the stairs in his building and gets into his car he affectionately named Puddle. Puddle makes a lot of suspicious noises, and has a really bad driver, but Gillion makes it safe to his job anyways, even if he broke a couple laws to get there.

The Undersea is a large, standard looking water park. A large industrial looking outside with a large colorful sign with coral and seaweed on it. Waterslides coming out and reentering the building in shades of red and blue and even a green one. The smell of chlorine, the sound of water moving, and the screams of children were stark and clear as Gill exited his car. Ah yes, his job. This is what he wanted to do with his life. His favorite part? He got a whistle. He had fifteen minutes to prepare for his shift as he opened his work locker, getting his favorite towel covered in sea serpents, and his beloved whistle. Maybe he was mean for it, but he loved being the one to make punky (evil doing) teens jump in their skin from being whistled at from across the water. The look of ‘oh shit’ on their faces as they turned to look at Gill from his chain, with the little red doohickey in his mouth. Good times.

“Gillion!” another life guard greeted him as she entered the break room, a large goofy smile tinged by shyness on her face. This was Aslana, a beautiful tall woman with wavy light blue hair in its iconic braid. She was also wearing the same uniform, but her swim shirt was more of a tank top than anything, and her arms were wrapped in beaded bracelets. Her skin was fair, her features delicate. She had always been super kind to Gill.

“Good morning friend! Are you ready to brave the day?” She laughed, opening up her locker and grabbing her similar whistle and towel, hers was covered in little mermaids holding shells or other ocean animals like sea stars and conches.

“It’s just a bunch of kids, not ‘braving’ anything, did you go for your ride this morning?”

“As always.”

“It was cold this morning, were you alright?”

“Ah the cold,” Gillion waves his hand around as he closes his locker and puts his whistle on his neck, “Pish posh.”

“You’re like an ice queen I swear.” Aslana’s giggles are soft, always so polite, and Gillion laughed with her, he was always comfortable around her.

“There was a new person though! She dropped her boards so I helped her.” He beamed as he recalled the story of the clumsy redhead and the fabled friend she mentioned, how she was trying to carry two thick boards all by herself, she had to have been strong to at least try.

“Do you think they go to SU? You said they’re about your age.” They were walking out to the posts now, the time was 9 a.m. sharp and the park had only been open for an hour and it was time for the night staff who opened the pool to get their sleep and for all the life guards to fill their positions.

“I am unsure! I did not get the chance to ask.” I didn’t want to know.

Aslana’s smile was knowing, and she gave the taller man a comforting touch to his shoulder before making her way to her chair, and Gillion to his. The smell of the pool was grounding as he climbed up into his little seat to overlook the wave pool. He always enjoyed going in by himself before the park closed for the night, fighting against the waves or putting on his goggles and swimming under them. He was fascinated by it, and watching parents and kids alike get knocked over (he would never admit it) made him smile. Especially the families holding onto each other.

All of the life guards in the Undersea sat in their posts until lunch, then they switched in a clockwise rotation to each of the different attractions, by the time Gillion was back in the wave pool chair, it was getting closer and closer to the evening, the sun set was visible inside of the building, especially to Gill who had a higher access to the windows. He was free to just think his thoughts, mulling over anything and everything his mind was coming up with. Was his phone still empty of notifications? Did Pretzel miss him? Maybe he should really consider that email from his doct-

A whistle from another direction alerted him, coming back to the present he scanned over the entire park before his eyes landed on some thrashing in the wave pool. A kid was drowning. Oh SHIT.

Immediately Gill was jumping down from his chair, running towards the wave pool and diving in head first, water messed up his hearing, chlorine was getting in his eyes but he didn’t care. Swimming as hard he could towards a boy stuck under the waves, clearly distressed and thrashing. He looked about 12 with shaggy hair and pale skin and fear stricken eyes. It took a bit of effort to get his arms about the kid and hoist him up. The dwindling crowds moved out of the way for him quickly as he got out of the pool and set the kid down. He was coughing still, that was good.

“You’re alright friend, you’re alright, can you breathe?” Gillion held a hand against the boy's upper back, lightly tapping and rubbing to try and stimulate life into him, but he was breathing deeply free of water in his lungs. Good, this was good.

“OLLIE!!” a high, slightly raspy voice got Gills attention as a man his age ran over, getting another whistle blown at him as he almost slipped making his way over to the boy– Ollie, and himself, immediately he stumbled to his knees, probably scraping them on the concrete as he crowded them. “Thank you oh my god is he okay-”

“He’s going to be okay, just give him a little space.” Gill's voice was firm and he gave an arm to separate the frantic young man from Ollie, who was still catching his breath and looking like he was about to cry. It took several more minutes before the boy could speak, the space was filled with the new man’s nervous ramblings (“I swear I left him for like two seconds I’m not a bad babysitter- I’m not related just the babysitter if he was my brother I’d never just call myself a babysitter- I just needed to get some water and check the time oh my god his mom is going to kill me– I’m Chip this is Ollie oh god is there any service here? I probably need to call her–”).

Eventually, though Gill could barely keep up with what was going on, Ollie managed to squeak out an “I’m okay-” before Chip tackled him in a very overbearing hug that had the two of them falling over. Gillion was relieved, putting a hand to his broad chest and feeling the pitter patter of his adrenaline filled heart. It was honestly kind of cute, how clearly this- uh- babysitter cared for the boy.

“Chip? Was it? Would Ollie maybe want one of the popsicles from the staff room? I’m not supposed to give those out but it seems like the little soldier could use one.” Chip smiled at him, nervously and with Ollie tucked into his arms struggling in his hold, but he smiled.

Today wasn’t such a bad day so far.