(Reserved for SJ)

He couldn't help the sudden flush that crept over his face as he observed the pale skinned male strip casually. He noted the various and scattered bruises that littered the delicate white skin, each in a different stage of healing. He couldn't help but think how he had caused that, suddenly wishing he hadn't. But just because the other inadvertently flashed him some delicious skin, suddenly he was wishing they weren't on bad terms? This was severely strange to Xander. He was going to have to look into his thoughts later on and wonder why he was thinking like this. Xander quickly looked away and removed his own pants and under garments before reaching for his grey swim shorts and sliding them on. Once he was finished, he took a quick peek at the other to see what he was doing now.

During the whole time that Damien was putting his bathing suit on, he felt this odd feeling that he was being watched. He took a look around but no one seemed to be paying attention to him, which was good. When he was done changing, Damien sneaked his way to a shower stall and turned the water on. The hot water felt nice, especially on his fading bruises, even if there was barely any pressure coming from the water.

Xander watched him from the corner of his eye creep away for the showers. He didn't see a point in getting in a shower then jumping in a pool. Getting wet, running out cold, then jumping back in the wet. Repetitious if you asked him. He headed for the showers as well, slamming his locker shut after grabbing his towel that he stored away with his bathing suit. After hanging it up, he turned the water on, listening for the sound of the other kid's water to turn off.

Damien had heard the shower next to him turn on and got a tad bit irritated. Well, if a dude needs a shower, then he has every right to as long as he didn't take his damn sweet time. The sooner everyone's gone, the better. Or maybe the other guy was planning on skipping too since everyone else had already gone out to sit on the bench, waiting for the coach to take attendance.
After a few minutes, Damien thought it was time to get out before his fingers turned into raisins. Hopefully everyone was already in the freezing chlorine-filled water doing a few rounds. Those poor suckers.

It took longer than he thought it would for the kid next to him to shut off the shower, but when he did, Xander shut his off after a few seconds of hearing the water flow slow to a stop. He shut his off and grabbed his towel, shivering as he hit the cold air, teeth chattering and jaw clenched. He hated a wet towel and refused to use it as a temporary coat until he got into the warm pool area though, so shivering he stayed. He walked out, not wanting to be strange for waiting for the dark haired male to leave. He listened for his foot steps though, keeping an eye to the side in case the kid passed him up.

As Damien came out, he realized that there was really no point in skipping. He's already wet so what's he gonna do? Sit in the locker room until class was over? Booooring. Plus, the punk from earlier seems to be a witness so he might as well show up. Skipping another class wasn't a really good idea anyway. Nobody ever said Damien was clever to begin with.

When Damien finally went out to where everyone was, the coach came up and announced that everyone is gonna be paired up for the day's exercise. God dammit.

Xander rolled his eyes at the sheer irony that the two of them, who had arrived from the locker rooms last, were the only ones left to partner up after the coach had suddenly announced their task. In an act of desperation he approached a few friends, all whom had partnered with each other already. He requested them to split so he could have one of them as a partner, which all refused. With great exaggeration to the exhaustion of his solution, he turned his sight to the one he had walked in late with.

There was no way in hell Damien was gonna be paired up with this insufferable prick so he went right up to the coach.

"Excuse me but I can't be paired up with him. I hate him." he said bluntly, pointing to his potential partner. The coach shrugged and then stated 'tough luck, kid' before turning away. As he did, Damien grumbled, grinding his teeth before sitting at the bench, freezing his butt off.

Xander furrowed his brow in frustration as he imagined everything that could go wrong right now. Being partnered with the kid he had ordered an attack on, a lot could go wrong. They might try to drown each other, or one of them could lose their shorts if they chose to go down the humiliation path. Maybe he was just over thinking things. Grudgingly, he walked to the metal bench, threw his towel down below, and sat as far as he could while still within range from his new partner. He didn't glance at him, but the two shivering boys had to wait until they had to go into the water.

Even though Damien was stuck with the albino asshole, he might as well make the best of it. He glanced in his partner's direction and whispered. "Psst, hey... listen. Even though your presence disgusts me and I would like for us to never associate again but for now, I want to call a truce. To at least make things less awkward for ourselves?"
Damien hardly ever spoke to anyone so suddenly offering a temporary olive branch felt a little weird but might as well attempt to bring the tension. It wasn't much. It's not like they were expected to do this huge exercise that required a lot of teamwork. It was probably just taking turns racing across the pool.

Xander was ultimately surprised when the other spoke to him first, and the words were hardly hostile. Sure, he was a bit insulted in the sentence, but otherwise it was a fairly calm statement. Xander nodded in agreement, allowing a truce to be called between the two of them. He didn't really know if it would solve the extreme awkwardness that radiated off of them and filled the gap between them, but if a truce made the other feel better, a truce it would be.

"I don't like this anymore than you do," he said, making a face. "We'll call truce here and now, but only here and now." Hopefully anywhere else and later would just be them avoiding each other.

"I'm glad you agree. And don't you think I've forgotten that little play-date earlier in the week. Just remember, karma has a funny way of getting around to people..." the dark haired male warned. The other guy was lucky Damien was almost true to his word. If he was anything like his younger brother, he could have turned their little agreement into some sort of trap. It's really easy to drown someone and make it look like an accident but the other would probably still be on his guard. It wouldn't be wise to try such a thing around other witnesses anyway.
Just the thought, however, amused Damien enough to make him chuckle.

"Whatever," he brushed off casually, acting as though forgetting it had been considered already. He was a little nervous at what karma would bring him, and he knew he deserved it for all the bullying that he did to other kids. Or rather, the supervising, since he didn't often get his hands dirty.

"So, what are we doing? Swimming laps?" he asked, wondering why they would need partners.

The coach then explained that yes, they were swimming laps and having partners were the usual thing.
"If you would show up to swim more often, you would know that." the gym teacher snapped.
The whole class then made their positions at the edge of the pool, waiting for the whistle for one of each pair to jump in. Damien turned to his partner and said "You go first."

Xander gave a very gay, yet very appropriate flip of his hair as he regarded the gym teacher with disdain. Sure, he skipped pool-days very often, and the days he didn't skip, usually he 'forgot' his swim trunks or something. He had almost said he was on his period once, but then he remembered that was a girl only thing.

Looking at his new partner gesturing for him to go first, he looked at the somewhat shallow level of water.

"You first," he said, pushing the unsuspecting male in to the water.

Damien didn't like the way the other had just pushed him right into the ice cold water. Of course it was cold, since the school was too cheap to get a heater.
Once Damien emerged above water after his fall, he quickly splashed the chlorine liquid at the other.
"Hey! Get your ass in here!" He growled, tempted to grab the other by the ankles and drag him in.

Xander burst out laughing as the other fell in, only laughing harder at the outrage when he resurfaced. He backed up uselessly as the other splashed water at him, getting wet regardless. Once he was scolded he hopped in, gasping as the cold water shocked his body. His teeth chattered a moment before his body started adapting. Once he moved around a bit he was sure he'd warm up.

"So, do you swim well?" he asked the other as he swam in small circles.

"Of course I can swim." Damien calmly stated as he was paddling around in a small circle. The coach marched his way across, readying his whistle.

"Alright, one of you is going to swim from one side all the way to the other and back. Then you'll tag your partner and then they'll do the same. Ready?"

Damien glanced at his partner, signaling for him to go first. 'I'm not moving an inch so you go'.

"And start!" The gym coach yelled, blowing on his whistle.

Xander took one look at the other to know that he was going to be the one going first. He sighed and got ready, feeling the typical anxiety about going first. The whistle blew and Xander was off, swimming strongly, head going under. He swam with the basic posture of every swimmer, hardly looking up to see how close he was to the end of the lane.

Xander didn't even realise he was slowly inching out of his lane. He swam a bit crooked, so what?

Unfortunately, swimming crookedly meant he was partially in someone else's lane. Something hit his head hard before he could look up and realise it. Xander's consciousness went quickly before he understood what was happening. He felt himself sinking as he succumbed to the dark edges in his vision.

Damien's 'partner' seemed to be doing quite well until he suddenly started sinking. It took the raven head a second to realized how dangerous it was for the other to be passed out underwater like that. He hastily jumped into the chlorine filled area and darted his way to his unconscious companion. Once he was close enough, he reached for the other, wrapped his arms around his torso and pulled him to the dry cement.

The dark haired male panicked when his new-found arch-rival wasn't breathing. Damien pinched the nose of the albino, puckered his lips and blew a gust of air into his lungs. Then he tried chest compressions before blowing oxygen back into the other.
Throughout the whole process, Damien slowly began to worry and hoped that the other would be alright.

Xander felt like he was floating, not sure where he was. His mind was adrift in a sea of clouds, not quite sure where to go. He was unable to focus on anything until his mind started to sharpen. Gradually he became more aware of his surroundings and condition of body.

Someone was pressing on his chest and forcing air into his lungs. He wondered who it was, as he became more conscious that someone was performing mouth to mouth on him.

His lungs finally got rid of the water trapped inside, expelling the liquid. He pushed away whoever was giving him mouth to mouth, rolling over and coughing out the rest of the water.

Everyone started crowding around the white-haired male, and watched as Damien performed CPR. Once the other was coughing up water and started breathing again, everyone, including Damien, backed up to give him some air.

Damien watched his partner for a minute, waiting for the right moment to ask him if he was alright. He thought about patting his back to help get the extra water out of his system, but decided not to. It was best just to leave him be. Even though Damien really couldn't stand him, he was relieved to find that the punk didn't drown.

All he could feel was his lungs rejected the water and his throat expelling it from his mouth. He felt light headed from coughing and not obtaining enough air to make up for the lost amount. Once he had slowed down in choking on water, he looked around at the people surrounding him, making eye contact with his swimming partner.

"Did... did you kiss me?" he asked, wide eyed, his voice was a bit hoarse. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His lungs felt sore from the water they had taken in. He grimaced from the trouble breathing became.

Damien raised a brow at the other's obvious question. He waited a few more seconds before replying. "Well, I sorta did. Haven't you ever heard of CPR?" He said rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "Don't get too flattered though. Just because I saved your sorry ass doesn't mean I hate you any less."

That last remark was unnecessary but he didn't want the punk thinking that he has gotten soft. Might as well save himself the embarrassment now before the albino regained enough of his breath to start teasing him again.

The 'kiss' wasn't that enjoyable at the very least but Damien's face couldn't help heating up a bit whenever he thought about it. No one really noticed though, not even the isolated boy himself.

Xander cracked a smile at the quick retort from the other. "CPR, kissing, same thing, I say. I didn't know you liked kissing unconscious dudes. Lemme guess, you like it when they can't say no, right?" he joked, finding himself recovering quickly from the near drowning. People began to disperse from the area when they heard him joking, gathering him to be fine, or just finding no humour in his joking.

He couldn't help but wonder, though. If Damien didn't 'hate him any less' why would he save him? Because it was the right thing to do? Because he didn't want someone to die? Xander couldn't help but feel extreme confusion at the morally correct action the other had taken. He had allowed the other to get beaten up and yet the male had saved him without question?

He made to get up and get back in the water, only to have the coach order him to change out of his swim suit and sit on the bleachers instead. He supposed this was what he had wanted, getting out of swimming, but now all he wanted was to figure out why the other had saved him.