A/N So here's another one, and this honestly was the hardest thing that I've ever written, and multiple times throughout writing it I wondered if I should just give up and start something different, but I was determined to finish. I'm happy that I kept going, and I'm happy that this story took so long to write (we're talking like 6 months here, which isn't bad but I wrote TTIHAAV in 30 days) but because it took so long my characters and my ideas really got a chance to grow and by the end of the novel they were these completely complex people who had flaws and strengths .. but then I went back to edit the first chapter and realized that oh-shit, I contradicted myself a lot, so I'm really trying to catch the mistakes and fix all the ones that I can to make this readable, and sort this mess out. I hope this is enjoyed. Thank you for reading.

"Mr. Cecil," the young boy asked, his small hands clutching the edge of the pool so tight that the tips of his fingers were turning white. He was afraid, Cecil could tell, but he didn't know why since all he had to do was let his feet drop and he would be standing on the bottom.

"Yes Atticus?" Cecil moved through the water and gently guided the boy away from the wall, instructing him to stand. Atticus looked frightened for a moment, but then incredibly relieved. Cecil let his arms fall to his sides as he glanced over the rest of his class, who were doing as they should be and practicing their side stroke from one wall of the shallow end to the other. The problem with Atticus was-

"WilI I ever be able to swim?" The five year old asked, pouting as he watched the older students move gracefully through the water. "I have been trying forever-" the class started three weeks ago, which meant Atticus had come to the pool six times so far. While this was enough time for most students to at least learn how to float, it was not forever, "but I just can't do it".

"You can," Cecil insisted and smiled down at the young boy encouragingly. "It's just because they're older than you that they're picking up on it faster". This was only part of the issue, but Cecil didn't feel like explaining to a five year old that he talked too damn much for him to even begin to explain how he was supposed to swim.

"That's what Remy keeps saying," Atticus said, cupping the water in his small hands and splashing it.

He was a cute kid with large blue eyes and curly brown hair. It made it even more concerning to Cecil that Atticus was by far his most trusting student. He was a bit worried that someday, one of the people Atticus decided to approach wouldn't be as friendly as the young boy perceived everyone to be.

This is why Cecil always waited with Atticus in front of the building until his ride, typically a boy named Sydney, would pick him up. Sometimes Sydney would come inside and watch the lessons, but today didn't seem to be one of those days.

"Remy hates swimming, you know. He does not like to get his whole body wet, or to take off his clothes," Atticus said, subconsciously wading back over to the wall of the pool and tightly grasping it once more as if to keep himself in place. Cecil's eyebrows raised.

Atticus was always talking about his older brother Remy, but Cecil had yet to meet him. Sydney, who was Atti's cousin, was usually the one to pick up the young boy, and when it wasn't him, it was his mother or father.

This wasn't really a bad thing. Cecil liked Sydney and all- he was good company and they had actually gone out for coffee a few times- but he couldn't help but be curious as to what the boy Atticus loved more than anything was like.

"Remy likes the water though-"

Before the boy could say more, Cecil cut him off with a quick, "I can't wait to hear more about him next week," and then called all the children towards him to dismiss.

When he did this, only Atticus remained, standing on the edge of the pool dripping wet. Cecil climbed out to join him and looked down at him. "Can't reach the towels today, little man?" Cecil asked, ruffling the boy's wet hair affectionately and Atticus nodded quickly. His small body was shivering from the cold, and Cecil wasted no time in walking over and grabbing him one of the towels off the high counter. "There you go. Now go with the other kids to the locker room and get dressed, alright?"

Atticus hurried off, slowing only a bit when Cecil warned him not to run.

With a sigh, Cecil began to walk towards the deep end of the pool. He enjoyed his job, he really did. It was only over the summer so when school came back around he could focus on that, and he liked his co-workers a lot. It was just some days he got tired of teaching the same thing over and over again.

"You look conflicted," was Carter's greeting to him as Cecil leaned against his lifeguard stand.

"I'm not really," Cecil said, looking up at the boy and shaking his head. "I just wish I didn't have to work today".

"Yeah," Jordan Sullivan agreed, appearing almost out of nowhere. "Me either".

"I will push you into this pool," Carter told his boyfriend, but his eyes shined with affection as he spoke. 

After finishing their first years at college in two separate states, Carter and Jordan had seemingly decided not to leave one another's sides until the next school year began and they were to once again part. This meant that Jordan spent an abnormal amount of time at the pool, which was frustrating, especially since he did so while wearing regular clothes and not a swimsuit.

One would think the situation would potentially be awkward, the three of them spending time together, but it really wasn't. Jordan and Carter were so much in love that it didn't matter that Jordan and Cecil had fooled around as high schoolers. Honestly, Cecil doubted that Jordan even remembered the multiple nights they had during junior year.

"If you push him into the pool, you'll have to save him," Cecil pointed out and Carter's eyes shifted to his pale green ones for a moment, and then up to his hair.

"You sure as hell can't do it". Cecil rolled his eyes and raised a fist to pull at his hair.

All his coworkers teased him about the silver dye he had reverted to in order to cure his heartbreak a couple months previous.

A heartbreak caused by the beautiful Caroline Olsen who had ended their year long relationship to date her younger sister's ex-boyfriend. Even after these last few months, it still stung.

The color of Cecil's hair was almost metallic and he loved the way it made his pale eyes pop, but it had the tendency to leak out of his hair whenever it got wet. This was learned the hard way in an event that ended with the pool being drained. From that day out, Cecil had been demoted from lifeguard to swim teacher, and he feared he would never live it down.

"Lay off the hair," Cecil demanded, half heartedly since he knew there was a very slim chance of Carter actually leaving him alone.

"If you want us to stop being mean to you, stop re-dying it," was the response, but it was distant since Carter was busy trying to fix Jordan's hair. It looked fine in Cecil's opinion, but Carter probably just wanted an excuse to touch his boyfriend.

"If I stop now you would all just make fun of me the second it starts to fade," he grumbled, turning his face away from Carter and Jordan's soft exchange of affection and taking his eyes over the pool area.

Within the last few minutes, about half of his students from his morning class had left the locker room and were either with, or in search of their parents. Atticus wasn't one of these students yet, so Cecil moved to turn back toward the couple.

He got halfway there and froze.

One of the greatest joys in Cecil's life was looking at beautiful people. There was no harm in looking, as long as it was done respectfully, he thought, and he took advantage of this, always taking the time to study the faces of the wonderful people he saw. Each one was a little reminder that some things in life were perfect.

And this boy just happened to be one of them.

He was sitting always directly across the pool from where Cecil was standing, his pants rolled up to his knees so his legs could dangle in the water. He was leaning forward over the water, somehow defying gravity by not falling in. His elbows were propped up on his knees and open in his hands was a book, though from this distance Cecil couldn't see the title.

While Cecil typically took great interest in what others were reading, since he greatly enjoyed the task himself, he couldn't bring himself to care in this situation, not wasting a second more of his time staring at the book and trying to figure it out.

All he wanted to do was look at this boy's face.

It had a serious expression, muscles relaxed as if he was bored, and Cecil admired how smooth his skin looked. His eyes were an almond shape and narrowed slightly, giving off the impression that he was not amused. Cecil wondered what color they were, since he couldn't see that either from this distance, but determined this didn't matter. He'd still be beautiful no matter what it was.

He had very delicate features. A small nose with a graceful slope. His chin was slightly pointed and his lips were very pink and turned down into a small frown as he read. Black hair was pushed off of his forehead and out of his eyes.

He was wonderful.

Cecil didn't even realize he was moving forward until Carter's hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Hey dumbass". It was Jordan who has spoken, but Cecil only spared him a glance before returning his attention to the reading boy. "Maybe you should walk around the pool instead of attempting to walk across it".

Cecil looked down and huffed in annoyance, suddenly realizing that there was a whole pool separating himself and the person he desperately wanted to start a conversation with. Without another word to either Jordan or Carter, Cecil moved to walk around the back of the lifeguard chair and then began tracing the edge of the pool in order to reach the kid, who Cecil now realized, looked rather unapproachable and tense.

Of course, Cecil didn't really care about this. He just wanted to talk to the beautiful boy, even if he didn't want to be spoken to.

He stopped a few feet away from him, giving him enough space to be comfortable, but also making his presence known.

And it was, he could tell, since he watched as the kids eyes suddenly flicked to the side quickly, and then back down at his book. They were hazel.

"You're really beautiful," was what Cecil first said, and then his eyes widened. He hadn't actually meant to say this outloud. Actually, his plan had been to stand there silently and stubbornly until the reader looked up at him.

Thankfully, the boy seemed to not have heard him, since he continued to stare at his novel, his expression as bored as ever.

They remained like this for exactly two minutes before Cecil couldn't take it any longer and abandoned all plans of staying silent. He was already making a fool out of himself, standing there shirtless in navy swim trunks and silver hair openly gawking.

"Hi," he tried again cheerfully. "I'm Cecil, and I'm single". The last part was added to be a sort of an ice breaker, but it didn't seem to work. The boy did not laugh.

For a terrible moment, Cecil thought that the kid was hard of hearing and he was being insensitive by standing here talking at him, but then the book snapped closed and hazel eyes were studying him head to toe.

Petal pink lips parted and a voice that battled his face for boredom left between them. "Not interested". Cecil's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Really now?" Cecil asked, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face. The sitting boy's eyes widened for a split second and then narrowed in annoyance. He had probably been trying to get him to go away, not intrigue him into staying.

"Leave," was the short response, and then the boy's eyes were shifting to his book, his fingers pushing it open once more and he resumed pretending that Cecil wasn't standing right there.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that he was, and that Cecil was wildly persistent. "What are you reading?" He was unsurprisingly ignored. "I'm sorry princess, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the pool area".

Cecil didn't know what had done it; calling him princess, or asking him to leave, but the kid suddenly looked absolutely livid and snapped his book shut again, this time throwing it down on the ground before turning his gaze up to glare at the tall boy.

"Excuse me?"

Cecil just nodded, his eyes wide in what he hoped was an innocent look. "You're breaking some of our rules, you see-"

"Not swooning at your piss poor excuse for flirting?" The boy snapped in response and Cecil felt his lips curl up in pleasant surprise.

"No". Eyebrows raised over hazel eyes in annoyance. "You see, you're in the pool," Cecil gestured to the boy's legs, "but you're not wearing a swimsuit. You can't do that here, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave".

"Leave him alone Cecil!" Was called from across the pool and Cecil looked up quickly before narrowing his eyes at Carter. "He's not hurting anything".

"I'm about to be hurting something if you don't leave me the fuck alone," the boy grumbled and Cecil couldn't help but to laugh at this, just waving an arm in Carter's direction to dismiss him. Carter had this issue with minding his own business sometimes and Cecil had long since learned to just ignore him.

"Why do you want me to leave you alone?" Cecil questioned and the boy looked up at him with an are you serious look that almost made him laugh. "All I've done is complement you".

"Look-" the kid began, and Cecil watched with curious eyes as he lifted his legs out of the pool and turned rest his feet on the cement. As he spoke, he rolled down his pant legs. "I really don't need this, whatever it is that you're doing. I'm not low on confidence or anything, and I'm not lonely, so I'd greatly appreciate it if you took me seriously when I say go away and actually did it, thanks". The boy stood then and Cecil's eyebrows shot up surprise.

It was hard to tell how tall a person was when they were sitting, especially when the majority of their legs were hidden from sight. Cecil wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting, but it was certainly for the boy to have been taller than he actually was.

Cecil was considered tall at 6'0, but this kid barely came up to his shoulder. He greatly doubted that he was over 5'1, if even that.

"Yes I'm short," the boy snapped angrily and Cecil's eyes widened. "You don't need to stare at me like that".

"I was just surprised, that's all," Cecil assured, and then he smiled. "You're absolutely adorable-"

"Listen here you-" a finger was raised, pointing at Cecil's chest, but before he could learn what exactly it was that he was, a high voice called:

"Remy!" Happily, and the boy before him was looking down as Atticus slowed to a stop at his side. "You stayed!"

Oh. Oh.

"Why are you talking to Mr. Cecil, Remy? Did I do something wrong?" Atticus asked, his blue eyes very wide and Cecil immediately dropped to his knees to be at eye level with the young boy.

"Of course not. I was just telling your brother here how good you're getting at swimming". Atticus's face lit up and he tilted his head back to beam at Remy, who was just staring down at Cecil with narrowed eyes.

"Did he really, Remy? Aren't you proud of me?" The little boy asked and Remy's face relaxed into something like fondness for a second as he looked down at his brother.

By the time Remy looked back up, the expression was gone. "Mr. Cecil said a lot of things". Remy scoffed. "Cecil".

"Yes dear?" Cecil asked teasingly and Remy's eyes narrowed further. He grumbled something about Cecil being a stupid name, and Cecil laughed loudly. Then he playfully shot back, "says Remy," and the boy's eyes narrowed to the point that they were barely even open any more, just small hazel slits.

"My name isn't Remy, it's Remone, which is what you actually should be calling me since only people I like get to call me Remy". Cecil was about to point out that Remone was actually probably a worse name than Remy, but Atticus cut in before he could do so.

"People like me!"

"That's right," Remy agreed, placing a hand on the top of his brother's head. "What's your last name, Mr. Cecil".

"Clarke," he admitted without a moment of hesitation. His face was turned down to look at Atticus, who was leaning towards Remy but not touching him. Slowly, Cecil's pale eyes shifted upwards, meeting Hazel ones of the boy looking down at his kneeling form.

"Cecil Clarke," Remy said, almost like it was a question, but it clearly wasn't. Cecil stood then to extend a hand out to the smaller male, as if introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you".

Remy looked at his hand for a moment, and then his eyes for two, and sighed before crouching down to pick up his book. "Well, Clarke, I hope I never see you again".

Atticus giggled and started to follow Remy as the angry boy began to retreat. "Bye Mr. Cecil! See you next week!" Was called in the high pitch voice and Cecil half heartedly waved.

He hoped that this meant Remy would be picking Atticus up from swim lesson from now on.

A/N Fun fact- Remy is actually based off of a piece of fan art I found in July of Levi Ackerman (You know, humanities strongest and the love of my life), and I really just ran with the whole idea of him and this happened.