Chapter Text
Every day is the same routine. Sleep, eat, work, swim, eat, sleep. Right now, Takumi tries to hold his breath as he swims laps; his opponent is himself in this daily challenge. He used to practice holding his breath and sitting at the bottom of the pool, battling his own buoyancy, but that became too simple. He needed to push his own limits. He needed to endure.
Takumi rotates his arms, kicking his legs, shooting forward like a bullet. Around a minute and a half, his head starts to feel fuzzy and his limbs weighted down. His lips twitch into a faint smile. He pushes himself toward the ledge and takes hold of it, lifting his head out of the water to gasp for much needed oxygen. It’s almost been an hour. Soon, it’ll be time to shower and head back to an empty home.
Except when Takumi pulls up his goggles to his hairline, he notices he’s not alone for once. He practically leaps out of his own skin as he exclaims, “Holy shit!”
He rushes to spare himself some embarrassment despite his reddening face, adding quickly, “I didn’t realize anyone else was using the pool tonight.”
The other man — if he even is a man, he looks ethereal under the gym’s fluorescent lights — smiles gently and extends his gloved hand to Takumi.
“I’m not using it. I was only curious about who would swim this late,” he responds evenly. “My name is Aotsuki Eito. Sorry I startled you.”
His silver hair is loose to his shoulders, his gleaming blue eyes that are nearly identical to the water Takumi swims in daily are concealed behind thick frames, and strangely enough, he is wearing a blazer, tie, and dress pants even though he’s at the gym’s pool. And, on top of all that, he’s wearing gloves.
I guess he did say he didn’t plan on swimming, but it’s not like he’s dressed to do anything else here, Takumi thinks to himself. Instead of voicing this aloud, he responds while grabbing Eito’s gloved hand, “It’s okay, no biggie. Thanks for–”
Eito looks delicate, but he supposes appearances are deceiving when he is practically yanked out of the pool. Takumi stifles another shout. He’s already embarrassed himself enough in front of this guy. If he’s light-weighted enough to be pulled out of the pool so easily by this scrawny-looking guy, he really needs to bulk up more like Takemaru tells him to.
“...Thanks,” Takumi repeats awkwardly. It’s clear that Eito is examining him, and it’s weird enough to be stared at so intensely, but being the only one donned in swim trunks makes it worse. He also realizes how tall Eito is in comparison to him. It hurts his ego a little bit to run into yet another younger man who is taller than he ever will be. “Hey, did you need anything before I go wash up?”
Eito blinks himself out of whatever stupor he is under. “Oh, I’m sorry, I am not the best in social situations… What did you say your name was?”
“Now it’s my turn to say sorry. I can’t believe I forgot,” Takumi says, chuckling as he rubs the back of his neck. “My name’s Sumino Takumi. I guess we both can struggle in social situations together.”
Eito laughs. It is a polite, refined laugh. Takumi wonders what he sounds like when he’s laughing freely. “Nice to meet you, Takumi-kun.”
“I know you’re not as old as I am to be using kun or my name, Aotsuki-san. Someone as put together as you should be aware of these things,” Takumi reprimands him lightly. He’s not actually upset, but seriously, does Eito want to run into trouble for his lack of respect? Surely he can’t be that clueless, can he?
Takumi starts to walk toward the shower room, Eito following after him.
“You don’t look much older than me,” Eito says. Within that is clearly a question of Takumi’s actual age; he snorts. His persistence is weirdly charming. He doesn’t normally have random strangers take interest in his business, except when he’s on duty.
“Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere,” Takumi remarks, smiling.
“It got you to smile, and you seem like you needed someone to make you smile,” the other man points out so plainly Takumi almost chokes on his own saliva.
“Y-you do a lot of assuming,” Takumi says, swallowing. He wonders if this younger man is hitting on him – if that was his whole goal behind staying late at the gym, waiting for Takumi to finish swimming. How long was he watching him swim, anyway?
“Does it bother you?” Eito asks, looking genuinely distraught. His lips tug into a frown, and his eyes downcast, focusing on the floor. “I didn’t intend to cause you discomfort.”
“No! I mean, no, you’re fine, Aotsuki-san.” Takumi’s ears turn red and his cheeks flush. He needs to get his own head out of the gutter. Eito really seems to lack socialization skills, it doesn’t mean he has a thing for him. And Takumi shouldn’t be interested in the first person to give him positive attention, either; that is Gaku-kun’s level of desperation.
“But I do need to shower now, so…”
“I understand,” Eito says, bowing his head. “Thank you for talking with me, Takumi-kun. I had a good time.”
The younger man smirks as he is walking away, probably when he thinks Takumi isn’t staring after him, and he lets out a breathy sigh as he enters the bathroom.
What an odd guy. He is really kind, even if his manners are lacking. I can’t say mine are the best either, Takumi thinks to himself as he turns on the showerhead. He grabs a clean communal washrag and towel provided by the gymnasium while waiting for the shower to heat up. His shower is quicker than usual, knowing he is behind with his evening routine due to the unexpected interaction with Aotsuki Eito. He pushes the younger man out of his head for now as he lathers his body in soapy water, scrubbing haphazardly with the washrag until he’s satisfied and his skin is splotchy red.
It doesn’t take long to change into casual clothes and discard the washrag and towel into the dirty laundry bin before exiting the bathroom; he nearly collides into Eito’s chest, but Eito dodges running into him with success. Still, a yelp escapes Takumi’s throat from the shock of the almost collision.
“I forgot something in there,” Eito explains hurriedly. His tone is more distant, faraway. “Did you see anything out of place?”
“Um, no, but I wasn’t really looking,” Takumi says. He shoots him an apologetic smile. “I hope you find it, though.”
Eito says a quick thank you, brushing past him in a hurry. Takumi decides to leave him be; he doesn’t know what to look for, anyhow, and his last package of ramen is calling his name in his pantry at home.