Chapter Text
Eren never really cared for the morning shifts. On one hand, work forcing him up at 5 am every day of the week made sure he didn’t royally fuck up his sleep schedule, and the early start made him more productive. On the other hand, he had to wake up at 5 am every day, which in and of itself sucked ass most of the time. The humidity of the pool didn’t help in keeping him awake and neither did sitting there staring at lap swimmers. He liked most of his patrons, he really did, but he’d be a lot more eager to listen to Pixis prattle on about his weekend with his ex-wife when it wasn’t the crack of dawn. Besides, it was almost always the same people coming at the same times, so there wasn’t much variety to the job. But then again, if he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t still be lifeguarding for the third year in a row.
The day started like any other. It was Monday, meaning Eren was a little more tired than usual from a weekend of hanging with friends and staying up later that he should’ve. Sasha was running late—again—but she promised Eren she would only be 15 minutes late this time and would bring him coffee, so he couldn’t be that mad at her. At this point, he should’ve just expected her to run late, undoubtably coming in with some sort of breakfast food she just had to stop and grab, so he set about opening up the pool by himself, unlocking the doors, turning on lights, and checking the chemicals and pumps. Clocking himself in, he looked at the list of cleaning duties Hanji wrote out for each shift. Thankfully, morning shifts usually had easy duties and today’s task was just cleaning windows. Sick.
Sasha burst in while he was wiping off the last of the Windex. “I’m here! Here! Sorry again Eren. I’d say it won’t happen again, but we both know that’s a lie,” she puffed out, shrugging her shoulders. “Anyways, here’s your coffee. Cold brew with cream and two sugars,” she said, shaking the drink at him.
“Thanks Sasha. Definitely needed it this morning.”
“You’re welcome! But you still have to go up first, since I started on stand last shift,” Sasha called, retreating back into the guard office. Eren groaned, following her in—she’d come rotate him out in half an hour, but he was really looking forward to enjoying his coffee first. The two chatted, Sasha munching on the breakfast burrito that made her so late, until Eren realized it was time to open. As he clambered up into the guard chair, readying himself to be bored out of his mind, Sasha went to unlock the door.
Ilse and Keith came in almost immediately, both walking in and claiming their usual lanes—Shadis as far away as possible in lane 8 and Ilse in the middle in lane 3. Eren never understood why they hurried to claim their spots since it wasn’t like anyone else ever showed up this early to compete with them. He watched them set down their stuff, warming up and jumping into the pool, letting his own thoughts drift to the classes he had later today and the homework he’d need to do after his shift.
He was in the middle of debating if he should work on next week’s paper or write that discussion board he’d been putting off when he heard the door open and shut. He glanced over, at first thinking Sasha had just run out into the hallway, then did a double take when he realized it was a patron and one that he’d definitely never seen before. The man stopped by the guard office, presumably asking some question about the pool, but Eren didn’t look too closely, deciding he should probably be watching the people currently in the pool, you know, doing the job he was paid to do. He turned his attention back to the lap swimmers. The new guy was too far away for him to really see much detail about him anyways.
Shadis was on his sixth lap—that’s how Eren had decided to spend the rest of this rotation, counting how many laps Keith swam today, real exciting stuff—when the man dove into the pool. Goggles and a swim cap obscured what most of his head looked like, but damn, what a body. The man obviously worked out, if the defined arms, broad shoulders, and chiseled thighs that clung to his jammers were anything to go by. Eren regretted not paying attention to him earlier since it was hard to ogle him while he was furiously front crawling. Thankfully the man claimed lane 1, the lane directly in front of and almost below the guard stand, and Eren thanked whatever god was out there that he got such an up-close view. He told himself he wasn’t a creep, wouldn’t stare unnecessarily or overtly at the man, but was just extremely appreciative that he finally got a decent looking human being to guard instead of old people. Ilse was sweet and pretty young compared to most of their patrons, but Eren didn’t swing that way, and Shadis was Shadis, so if Eren spent most of his time watching the new patron, it was merely coincidence.
Before he knew it, Sasha was coming to rotate him out, a fact he silently lamented because the man had only gotten there a few minutes ago. “So uh,” he started as she climbed up on stand, “you ever seen this guy before?” He was a little curious about the guy, so sue him.
“Nope, not on any of my shifts. He asked me a couple questions about the pool, so I’m assuming he’s new,” she responded, taking Eren’s place in the chair.
“Huh. Wonder if he’ll become a regular,” he said, climbing down. Sasha shrugged.
“I dunno. I kinda hope so. He’s not bad looking, so it’s a nice change from all the regulars.” They laughed as Eren made his way back to the office for his break.
He told himself he’d be productive on break, catch up on some readings, but he mostly spent his time slurping coffee and dicking around on his phone. Before he knew it, his time was up. Such was the drawback of 30-minute rotations: you weren’t stuck up on stand forever, but it sure as hell felt like it while guarding and your breaks went by too quickly, well, too quickly for Eren’s liking. He grabbed his guard tube with a sigh and went to swap out with Sasha.
At least the new guy hadn’t left yet. He scanned the water to make sure Ilse and Shadis hadn’t drowned, then focused his attention back on the man. He’d switched to breaststroke this time around, slicing his hands through the water with practiced ease. So, this guy actually knew how to swim—well obviously, Eren thought to himself, otherwise he would’ve had to jump in and rescue him a while ago. But compared to most lap swimmers, he actually had pretty good form and technique, following through with his strokes, using the full extension of his body to propel himself forward. He seemed natural in the water. Eren watched as the man finished up his lap, coming to a stop at the end of the lane and grabbing the water bottle he had stashed there, drinking from it long and slow, no doubt starting to get worn out. He treaded water for a bit, seeming to catch his breath as his chest rose up and down—and yeah, it was a pretty nice chest to look at. Eren was content to stare at it more until the man looked up, seeming to meet his gaze through his goggles. Of course, Eren couldn’t tell for sure since they were tinted, but he hastily turned to watch the other two lap swimmers as if he’d been doing so all along regardless.
The new guy pushed off the wall and resumed his laps, making Eren breathe a sigh of relief. He continued his breaststroke for a while, switching to butterfly after a couple more laps. At 6:45 Mrs. Springer and Mrs. Kirstein walked in, right on time as per usual. The two moms liked to walk in the shallow end and gossip, but mostly gossip. They waved to Eren as they headed into the water, calling out greetings to him. He liked when they came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays the most, since that was when he worked mornings with Connie, and his mother enjoyed teasing him to no end when she was there, much to the annoyance of her son and to Eren’s amusement. He turned back to watching the lap swimmers and realized that the new guy had begun his cool down. Damn. He couldn’t watch him swim anymore, but maybe now he’d get to see what his face looked like.
He swam a couple laps slowly, but when the man came to the shallow end of the lap lane, he stopped abruptly, shucking off his swim cap and goggles. And hot damn, Eren wasn’t expecting him to be that hot. Delicate but sharp features, piercing eyes, a jawline just as chiseled as his abs. He had a pretty nice body to look at, but a good-looking face to match? Eren must’ve hit the jackpot. The man dunked himself under the water, popping back up to slick his disheveled hair back, revealing the undercut hidden beneath. He stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders as Eren stared on, watching the way the muscles rippled under his pale skin. The man began stretching his legs, bending one leg to loosen up his thighs—god, what great thighs they were—turning his head to look directly at Eren, those sharp eyes seeming to stare right into his soul. Oh fuck, he was on to him.
“What?”
“You!” Great, great, real fucking smooth Jaeger. “You’re uh, you’re new right?” He clarified. Ok, decent save, totally normal conversation.
The man quirked an eyebrow. “Stunning observation, eagle eyes.” He turned back to stretching, swapping legs.
“I just-I mean,” Eren cleared his throat before continuing, making the man look up. “I’ve never seen you around before, and I know all the regulars. It’s not like we have a ton of people coming through here,” he said, glancing around at the other swimmers. “I’m Eren,” he finished with a smile.
“Right.” The dubious look on his face didn’t give Eren any confidence. The man pushed himself out of the pool, walking back behind Eren to retrieve his towel from the other end of the pool. God he really, really wanted to take a peek at his ass as he walked by, but Eren didn’t dare to. He’d already made himself look like a complete idiot once today: he didn’t need to embarrass himself further. Instead he resolutely stared at the two moms in the shallow end.
He heard footsteps come from the side, then snake behind him before trotting off the other side. Eren turned, calling out a hasty “Have a good day!” to the retreating figure. The man held up a hand in a wave, but didn’t turn around. Once he entered the locker room and was out of sight, Eren groaned, dropping his head in his hands. He’d super fucked that up.
“Eren.” He looked up then down towards the sound of Sasha’s voice to find her standing at the bottom of the guard stand. “What the hell was that?”
He stood up to let her clamber up to the chair, sighing. “I panicked. He was hot and caught me off guard and I gay panicked. What do you want me to tell you, Sash?”
“Well I hope you didn’t scare him off,” she replied, plopping down. “He’s the only hot one we have here. I’m tired of having to look at Shadis all the time.”
Eren slunk his way back into the guard office. The rest of his shift was spent replaying his blunder in his head, half hoping he did scare off the man so he wouldn’t have to face his embarrassment again.
***
The man showed up again the next day at the same time. Eren didn’t even realize it until he rotated Connie. It was only him and Pixis in the pool today, giving Eren even less options of things to look at than the day before. He decided to just stare at Pixis the whole time in an attempt to save himself from further embarrassment. It went well until Eren got bored, his eyes drifting back to the new guy unconsciously before he caught himself and doubled his resolve. By the time Connie came to switch him out, he felt like his eyes were about to fall out of his head.
“This guy’s new. Or at least I’ve never seen him.”
Eren clipped out a short “Yep,” in a rush for Connie to hurry up and swap with him so he could go hide in the office before the new guy realized he was here.
Connie didn’t buy it though, giving him a doubtful look and refusing to sit down. “Sure,” he said, dragging out the word, waiting on Eren to fess up.
“Ok fine, he was here yesterday,” he hissed in a low voice. “And I made myself look like an idiot in front of him and now he probably thinks I’m a weirdo. So will you please rotate me before he sees me?”
“Ok, ok, chill out dude.” He sat down, calling out once Eren climbed down, “Dude’s pretty ripped, I can see why you embarrassed yourself.”
“Connie, I will throw you in this fucking pool I swear to god.” He stalked away while flipping his coworker off, bright red ears betraying his mortification as Connie laughed.
He spent his break throwing himself into his homework, only ever looking up to check the time. Seeing his break was almost over, Eren was about to wrap up when movement caught his eye. He looked over just in time to make awkward eye contact with the man from yesterday before he turned around and headed towards the locker room. God dammit.
***
Wednesday and Thursday went the same. The man would show up at exactly the same time, Eren would avoid looking at him the entire time, and then inevitably slip up and make accidental awkward eye contact with him. When Friday morning rolled around, Eren had spent his entire drive to work bracing himself for whatever embarrassment he would encounter today. He clocked in and cleaned while thinking of things to look at besides the man. The whole first rotation consisted of him stressing himself out, looking at the clock every minute and watching as it counted down when the man would arrive. And then it ticked past.
Eren sat upright in the guard chair. Ok, maybe he was just late today. Now he’d have to be even more alert if the man could burst in at any time. Not like he ever really burst in, more like casually walked in. But the sentiment still stood, and if anything, Eren was even more anxious now than when he expected the man to show up on time. Even Hanji could sense it when she came to rotate him.
“Everything okay, Eren? You seem on edge. Did Nick finally drown?”
Her comment made him laugh. “Unfortunately not. Just uh, little stressed out with classes I guess.” He knew he was making this whole thing a bigger deal in his mind than it actually was, and telling anyone the truth—especially his boss—would be embarrassing. Hanji was actually the Aquatic Supervisor at the recreation center, so typically she was in her office, in city meetings, or running around making sure the pool wouldn’t explode. This was her only shift that she worked as a guard since all of the other lifeguards had class, and making Eren work a 4-hour shift by himself would not only be cruel and exhausting, but unsafe. Eren loved working with Hanji, but working one-on-one with your boss could be a little bit stressful even when he knew he was great at his job. Well, great at his job except for when he stared at attractive patrons.
She punched his arm playfully as she took over the stand. “Well, don’t let it get to you too much. Can’t have my favorite guard getting distracted on the job, now can we?” she replied with a wink.
Eren snorted in response. “Sure Hanji, I’ll try.”
Hanji’s joking had chilled him out some, but he still kept his eyes open for the man, just waiting for him appear when he wasn’t paying attention. Every time he got up on stand, he scanned the water furiously, double, triple checking to make sure he didn’t sneak in somehow. Before he knew it, his shift was almost over. The man hadn’t shown up after all. The thought made Eren relieved, albeit a little guilty. He really hoped he hadn’t shown just because of him. He’d feel bad if he scared him off, even if Eren kind of didn’t want him to come.
***
Eren spent the weekend hanging out with friends, procrastinating his readings and homework, and then cramming last minute to do said homework. By Monday morning, he was regretting staying up so late. Sasha was running late once again, so he could count on her to bring him some caffeinated relief. He sluggishly went through his opening duties, chugging the coffee Sasha passed him when she arrived, and plopped down at the desk, happy that she agreed to go up first today. He spent his break scrolling through his phone in a haze, waiting for the caffeine to finally kick in. By the time it was his turn to rotate, he still felt tired, mentally kicking himself for not going to bed sooner last night.
He climbed up on the stand, scanning the water to see who all was here today. Shadis in the far lane: check. Ilse in the middle: check. Hot guy in the first lane: fuck. He’d slipped in without notice when Eren was on break. At least this meant that he hadn’t scared him off after all. Eren tried to keep his eyes off of him as much as possible, he really did. But he was exhausted, and there wasn’t much else to look at, and the man was very, very attractive, so was it really his fault if his eyes kept drifting back to lane one? Plus, it was kind of his job to look at the man, of course in a completely professional sense. And Eren was strictly professional. He was looking respectfully. And so he did his job like normal, eyes trailing back and forth between Shadis, Ilse, and the new guy, just maybe with a little more emphasis on the man in lane one.
***
Eren had no new issues with the man until Thursday. He showed up when Eren was on stand and there were no obvious problems. He got in the water like normal, Eren watched him a little more than everyone else like normal, then Connie rotated him out and he went on break like normal. After his break, he rotated Connie like normal, watched the patrons like normal, and had the man stare directly at him during his cooldown like…
Eren glanced around behind him to make sure that yes, the man was looking at him, since no one else was around. He turned around slowly, leaning forward slightly in his chair to ask, “Is there something I can help you with, sir?”
The man looked at him for a moment longer, continuing to stretch his arms without breaking eye contact. “You look at me a lot.” It wasn’t a question, but it wasn’t quite an accusation either. Ah fuck, so he had noticed.
“I mean…that’s kind of my job. Being a lifeguard and all,” he trailed off, scratching his neck nervously. The man narrowed his eyes. Even Eren knew it was a flimsy excuse. Before the man could reply he continued, “But uh, your form. Like your swimming technique, I mean. You’re really good, definitely a better swimmer than most of the patrons, but you’re kind of stiff with your feet. If you relax your ankles, it’ll make your kicks more powerful. Just…something I noticed.”
It wasn’t a bullshit answer. In the past few days, Eren had been watching him, not just his body. The man would swim 500 meters of a stroke before switching off to the next one. He almost always swam front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, in that order. He’d usually stop for water every 15 minutes. And although his swimming was great—Eren wasn’t lying about that either—it was a little loose around the edges, but so was almost every swimmer who didn’t have a coach constantly on their ass about technique.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” the man responded cryptically, turning away from Eren to climb out of the pool. Eren breathed a sigh of relief when he disappeared into the locker room.
***
It was another week and a half before he spoke to the man again. Eren had gotten used to him coming almost every shift, accepting that he was now a regular. He at least no longer felt painfully embarrassed or awkward every time he looked at him. But despite him coming in so often, Eren knew almost nothing about the man besides his swimming routine.
And so he found himself absentmindedly thinking about the man. How old was he? He looked late 20s, no older than 30, but then again, he never got a super close look at his face. What did he do? Where did he work? Why didn’t he come on Fridays? Why did he never talk to Eren? He tried to tell himself it wasn’t personal, that he seemed like the strong silent type anyways, and that not every patron overshared as much as Pixis, but it didn’t stop him from wondering. The man in question had stopped for a water break, chugging from his bottle before catching Eren’s eye.
“So, what am I fucking up this time?” he called out dryly. Technically, Eren should have yelled at him for his language—family friendly pool and all—but no one was paying attention and he didn’t think the man would take too kindly to being yelled at.
Eren barked out a laugh. “Nothing actually. Your kicks have gotten a lot better.” The man didn’t respond, turning around to place his water bottle back on the pool edge. As he looked ready to push off and resume his laps, Eren stuttered out, “Hey, what’s your name?” The man paused, looking up at Eren with what he could only assume was a questioning look since goggles obscured his eyes. “Just uh, you’re pretty much a regular now. And I know all the regulars, since I’m here every morning. That’s Shadis and Ilse,” he pointed to the lanes beyond the man, “and sometimes Mrs. Kirstein and Mrs. Springer come in. Then Dimo and Flegel, and Pixis, and sometimes Hannes, but they all come in after you leave. But I was just curious, you don’t have to tell me,” he finished lamely.
The man seemed to consider the question, and just when Eren was about to give up and tell him that it really was fine if he didn’t want to give up his apparently super top-secret name, he huffed out an answer.
“It’s Levi.”