Solstice and Eclipse: Part III

Chapter I: Swimming Lessons

The city of Musutafu was unusually quiet for a Thursday afternoon. Normally the city was alive with the sound of its citizens pouring from their office buildings, flooding the streets for their lunch hour in desperation to escape the confines of their cramped workspaces. On this particular day however, there were only a handful outdoors, walking sluggishly beneath the hot sun as the occasional car passed them by. Most had opted to stay indoors where it was cool and air conditioned. The city was quiet on this hot summer's day.

The cool water was refreshing. He sat at the edge of the pool with the legs of his jeans rolled up as his feet gently kicked back and forth in the water, though the sun had never much caused him to overheat. They had been the first two to arrive. Yaoyorozu had disappeared into the girls' locker room to change, leaving him to assume his current position and savor the rare silence.

She joined him not long after, asking where his swimsuit was. He explained how the chlorine in the pool would dry out and irritate his skin.

"You don't mind if I jump in, do you?" A rhetorical question as she was already several steps into the pool. "The sun is scorching."

He heard a soft 'splash' as she dived beneath the water. Her hair floated freely along the surface until she submerged deep enough to pull it under. After several seconds he heard her subsequent reemergence followed by the steady trickling of water falling from her hair as she whipped her head back, wiping her hands up her face and raking her fingers through her raven locks, pushing it back and out of her face.

"Are you sure you won't join?" She asked, wading her way over to him. "It doesn't have to be for long. Just until the others arrive." Slipping one of her hands into his, she let her feet lift from the bottom of the pool, using him as an anchor as she floated in place. "It's not much fun alone."

He didn't respond, but after several seconds consideration he slid forward and allowed himself to slip, fully clothed, into the pool. Yaoyorozu made a small noise of surprise, about to mention how this would surely ruin his clothes, when she noticed the aureate light surrounding his body, though barely visible beneath the sun's rays. Smiling, she took both his hands and pulled him further into the pool to where their feet would no longer touch the bottom.

Languidly kicking her legs to keep afloat, she noticed (L/N)'s complete lack of movement. Neither standing nor swimming, he just sort of hovered there. It looked so odd that it bordered on funny.

"It's no fun if you're just going to use your quirk." Yaoyorozu laughed. "Why don't you actually swim? Enjoy the weightlessness of it."

Color rose from his neck and settled in his cheeks. He turned his head down and away to hide the color. "I... don't know how."

"No one ever taught you?"

His lips pinched together as he slowly shook his head.

"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about." She said, taking note of his physical behavior. "Here, let me teach you. You'll need to stop using your quirk to support yourself."

"What if I start to sink?" He did his best to keep the fear from his voice because damn did he feel pathetic right about now. Sixteen years old and still afraid of the water.

"Don't worry, just hold onto me so I can help keep you afloat." Since he did not move, she took his hands and placed them on her shoulders while supporting the undersides of his arms. "We'll start with your feet first."

Despite the water, her skin was warm under his touch. This much physical contact with someone was unfamiliar. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but his mouth had suddenly gone very dry.