I stood up and bent backwards, my spine cracking as I had been crouched over these toilets for a while. Those porcelain thrones were shining and fit for a king. Proud of my work, I picked up my bucket with a smile.
This was my chance to sneak a peek at the swim team.
Bucket in hand, I walked down the hall towards the doors to the pool. It was noisy, the sounds of bodies splashing through the water as their coach shouted random things from the sidelines. I don’t know how he expected the swimmers to hear him when they were under the water half the time.
Peeking in, I saw a group of people standing off to the side. Girls in tight one-piece dark blue swim suits and guys in dark blue speedos. They were chatting as they watched the six or so people slice through the water. The coach, a rather large man I had seen a few times, was running up and down the sides of the pool, following the swimmers with a whistle in his hands. I was waiting for him to fall at any moment.
He didn’t though, and when I guess the swimmers completed the exercise, he blew on his whistle, signaling for all the swimmers to a halt. They did and with a fluid efficiency they pulled themselves out of the water.
“Monroe! Good job! I noticed a little hesitancy on your turn, don’t be afraid of the pool wall, it's not gonna reach out and bite you! McNab! Sloppy! I want you running extra laps with Clark! His form is better than Monroe’s. Good work!”
My eyes focused on the people who had just come out of the pool when I heard my guys' names. And fuck, shit, damn, my jaw was on the ground. Those two in nothing but tight speedos and caps? My-oh-my, I was about fanning myself.
Both of them were well muscled and glistening from the water dripping down their bodies. This was the first time I had seen either of them without a t-shirt and I had to say, I wasn’t disappointed. My eyes skimmed each one of them up and down, the little pervert in me taking notes on their junk. Though, it wasn’t like either of them were hard at the moment, so I couldn't really judge.
I noticed how much paler Jason was compared to Hip, who had a nice, even, golden tan. However, Jason was a lot bulkier in his frame compared to Hip, and noticeably taller as well. It reminded me that Hip was actually the shortest of the guys, the tallest I think being Theseus, and then Ajax.
I shook my head, reminding myself I wasn’t there to ogle the guys, I was there to…um, well, watch them intensely until they slipped up and revealed something? Wow, ogling them sounded a lot better in my head than just basically stalking them. Nevertheless, I watched them as I moved into the room under the pretense of tidying up. Straightening chairs, picking up nonexistent trash, picking up actual pool toys. You know. Janitor stuff.
Unfortunately, I didn’t notice anything odd beyond how fast in the water both of them were, but it wasn’t supernatural fast, just fast. The two of them were clearly the best on the team and it was obvious by the way all of the girls— and a couple of guys— watched them that they were desired and envied.
I did make a note that neither of them seemed to interact with each other. Between turns lapping in the pool, the two of them would break off into separate groups as if not noticing each other's existence. I knew that both of them shared a couple of classes together, combined with being on the swim team and having both grown up in Argos, I was surprised they weren’t friends before I met them. Though, they weren’t really friends now either. Jason seemed to tolerate Hip’s presence at the lunch table and Hip liked to antagonize Jason, so I don’t think there was much budding bromance coming from him either.
Was I the only reason they even spoke?
After a half hour of covert sleuthing, I came to the frustrating conclusion that I wasn’t going to get anything juicy today. I consoled myself with the idea that Hip was going to tell me everything once I got off of work. Hopefully.
Heading back into the hallway, I met up with Theseus and helped him take out the trash he had collected. Together, the two of us worked to clean the rest of the rooms. We finished up around five o’clock, long after the swim team had ended their practice and not long before the nightly people would come for their classes and mess up the whole place again for us to reclean the next day.
Hip had texted that he was waiting in the library for me to get off of work. I blushed, thinking about how he and Percy might be talking about me right that moment, but I tried to reassure myself that they were probably doing their own things. Hip listening to music and Percy staring at his computer, bored.
I texted him that I would be done in a couple of minutes, I just had to get the trash from the pool’s locker rooms and take it out to the bin.
Theseus and I double teamed; he would get the men’s while I got the women's. The locker rooms were right near the entrance of the pool and when you entered it was easy to have your back turned to the pool most of the time, only really seeing it in your peripherals.
Which is probably why I didn’t see the body when I first entered.
Heavy trash bag in hand, I waddled out of the women's locker rooms facing the pool's blue surface. But it wasn’t completely blue, there was an odd reflection of something under the surface, like a tan blob. Thinking that someone had just been an asshole and tossed clothes into the pool or something, I got closer to get a better look.
And dropped the bag of trash right on my foot, my face contorted in horror.
I screamed.
There, resting at the bottom of the pool was Jason.
“JASON, NO!!”
Without a thought, I acted, running forward and diving into the pool. The water was warm and the resistance frustrating as I frantically swam down. It was a deep pool, at least 10 feet at its deepest end, and Jason was all the way down there. I also wasn’t that great of a swimmer. But I didn’t care.
I had to get to him.
I had to save him.
My lungs were already burning by the time I got to him but thanks to the adrenaline, I hardly notice as I reached the bottom. Wrapping my arms around him and shoving off the pools floor. Swimming back towards the surface was much harder, but it went fast.
There was one moment where Jason began to thrash in my arms and all I could think was ‘oh thank fuck he’s still alive! I could still save him!’.
I breached the surface, taking in huge lungfuls of air before I screamed. "Help! Help me please!”
As I thrashed to the side trying to get out of the water, I could see Theseus at the edge of the pool, looking frantic. Then Ajax came running through the door, his expression matching Theseus’. I would stop to wonder why Ajax was there later. Just then, all I could think about was getting Jason out of the pool and performing CPR or something ASAP!
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Someone shouted in my ear.
My head whipped around to see my cargo, the cargo I thought was dead or dying staring right at me, his eyes wide and angry.
I screamed again, more out of shock than fear this time, letting go of Jason in surprise.
I felt hands wrap underneath my armpits, and with great strength hulled me out of the water and deposited my soaking wet body on the floor’s rough surface. I looked up to see Percy staring down at me, his eyes behind his glasses full of concern. Next to him was Hip, who’s face showed about the same level of concern as Percy’s.
My eyes shot back to the completely fine and alive Jason who was taking Theseus’ hand and heaving himself out of the pool.
“Y-you’re okay!” I said, my voice cracking from shock. Hot tears began to pour down my cheeks.
“Of course I'm fucking okay. What were you thinking?” He shouted, his dark green eyes burning with rage. His jaw was tight, fists clenched at his side.