Pool Side Antics! (OPEN)

There was something weird with pools compared to the freshwaters of lakes and ponds. They usually contained amounts of chlorine, and the mutant did taste that through his gills. However, it didn’t bother him anymore, for his Grandpa had already prepared him for such situations. That was how Ame began attending UA’s pool regularly instead of seeking the nearest lake; he got his daily moisture and watery fun, and he also got to meet other students from time to time depending on who visited the pool as well.

This time of the year was amazing. It was just the right moisture in the air, and he loved the gathering of huge clouds and seasoned rain. Albeit it not having rained in a while now, Ame could still taste the drops of water in the air as if he was in a tropical rain forest. It brought him strength and vitality, and it also helped him drop a lot of pressure of stress.

He popped his head out of the surface of the water in order to eye the small person on the other side of the pool near its edge. A gently dark-skinned, white-haired boy whom Ame hadn’t met before. He wondered who the boy was associated with to be here… or if the boy was a new student or something along the lines of that. He could only guess at this point, for the mutant in deep-blue trunks wasn’t mentally ready to greet yet. He needed a bit more courage and perception of the surroundings around him…

Even though Fu had a less than ideal relationship with U.A., she had to admit that facilities were pretty nice. The empty music room was pretty and offered great acoustics for the few musically inclined students. There were some decent lounging areas and of course all of the state of the art training facilities. There were other facilities that tied in with other aspect of the school such as computer labs that could be used for the hero courses or the business aspect of the show. It was an odd thing for Futaba. Naturally, the hero course had the most resources but U.A. had enough money to also support the other aspects of the school. Granted, the msuic room had little to no instruments but it existed. Today wasn't about the music room though.

Fu was feeling a little stressed so she decided to check out the pool that was part of U.A. She wasn't dressed to swim in the pool, rather she just wanted to sit by the pool. Wearing her usual casual clothing, Fu made herself comfortable on one of the chairs in the pool complex. Putting in her earbuds, she pressed shuffle on her music app.

Shifting sideways, Jon stared sullenly at their reflection before shrugging their shoulders several times, testing the stretch of the black swimming shirt. They tugging on the edges of the short sleeve that reached mid bicep and ran a hand down the front of their chest several times, smoothing away the imaginary bumps and wrinkles. Their comfortableness was palpable, held in the tense set of their shoulders and the tilt of their brow. The hem reached past their hips and they tucked the edges into the blindingly neon, green board shorts. Much like their athletic shirt they wore under their hero uniform, the swim shirt they found helped keep what little they had, properly put away. Put away. Jon snorted. Yeah, if only they could just pack that shit away and lose it.

“One day,” they told their mirror self, taking a couple of steps back and redirected their inner turmoil to the newly mended injury just above their partial sleeve. The skin was still a little tender, the scar still fresh but healed, a memento from a class assignment that went a little pear shaped. All part of the job to them, but it put a damper on anything that required water. Even showering was a real pain trying to keep it dry. Even so, it was just another added to their small collection and it’d fade with time. At least it hadn’t interfered with their tattoos, now that would have been annoying. Bad enough they nicked and cut up their hands every time they pushed their Quirk. They could just make out the healing bruises on their opposite bicep, the mottled pattern of yellows and greens had nearly faded out. God, that had been quite a day.

Giving one last cursory look in the mirror, Jon gave a quick double finger gun and grabbed their towel before heading out of the locker rooms. With each step, they tucked away their insecurities, stowing it neatly behind their usual cheeky grin and bright gaze. They squinted against the sunlight and with a casual flick above their head, dropped the sunglasses nestled in their hair, down. The bane of having lighter colored eyes meant they were that much more sensitive to light and the teen were not about to deal with that. Scratching their hip, they surveyed the area presented to them.

The right thing to do would to be use this time to train but what kind of fool would do that on such a nice day? Besides, now was the perfect excuse to try out their new prosthetic. Outwardly, it didn’t look any different than their every day use one, same build and model, though made out of lighter materials and the joints were water proof to protect the microprocessor. If it handled well, then Jon had the option of switching from Martha. Of course new prosthetic meant new problems and the teen found it easier to walk with shoes. It eased their swaying gait and they had more of a saunter than a drunk stumble and Jon would add a tic in the pro column. Much like Martha, it was utilitarian rather than aesthetic and there was no hiding the silver pylon in place of their lower leg.

Jon hummed at the floating swimsuit before bypassing the pool in it’s entirely, stepping around a pair of discarded flip flops and meandered over to where Futaba was sitting, dropping into one of the nearby chairs. Noting the earphones, Jon gave a little waggle of fingers before leaning back into the chair, tipping their head up to let the warmth of the sun wash over them.

It lasted for a solid minute, Jon nearly counting the seconds in their head before they sat up and leaned forward, giving a slow wave in front of Futaba to catch her attention. They persisted until they were sure the teen noticed them and they smiled brightly.

“Not swimming today?” Jon asked, looking over the top of their sunglasses.

First was a carrot top with blue swimming trunks. Wait, didn't UA have a swimming uniform? Kaito could have sworn that they did. And the boy glared at the newcomer, who seemed reluctant to come closer after seeing that he wasn't the only one going. A sound from above that sounded like Emiko-senpai sounded, causing the silver haired boy look up. To see a blue ball hit the pool behind him, and a female swimming uniform dropping into the pool soon after. Another girl entered, though didn't seem intent on swimming, just relaxing by the poolside. That was fine by him, and Kaito welcomed Emiko's entrance. A tall and muscular blond entered and dived into the pool. Not quite where the misplaced swimwear was, but close enough to send it towards the middle school student. And again, another person showed up. This time, a boy with similar skin tone/color and not much taller than Kaito showed up, and took a place wear the non-swimmer was. Another silver haired boy also showed up, but seemed the solitary type. And unlike Kaito, he was just tanned. Though he did have an interesting looking wound on the one shoulder...but the guy didn't bother him or anyone else and just started swimming laps. Sighing heavily, he grabbed Emiko's swimwear and put it on the edge. Scanning the pool, he could barely see the blue ball.

Taking a deep breath, he dived down, and before picking her up, traced who he was on the top of her head. If she allowed it, Kaito would pick her up and take her to the surface, swimming towards her unworn swimwear. Putting the slime on the edge, hopefully she would transform to a human. And if not, he'd trace on the top of her head if she could do that quick. Though perhaps to her disappointment, Kaito wouldn't be embarrassed or anything if she appeared completely naked. "Who are these people? And why don't most of them have the UA standard swimwear?" Though he was paying attention partially to the muscular blond and the guy doing laps. He wasn't much of a people person...the only one he's met was Emiko-senpai. Though the girl did like vaguely familiar too...but he didn't know from where.

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Jon bobbed their head agreeing as Futaba answered them. “Cool, cool,” they answered automatically before grinning. “Maybe not so cool, but eh semantics. Def warmer here, sometimes.” They slid the towel off their shoulder, shoving it backwards over the chair and didn’t bothering to make sure it stayed. Instead they hummed thoughtfully as the towel made a slow bid for freedom over the back of it. “Oh yeah? Uh…” Jon pushed their sunglasses back up atop their head, twisting in their chair to better face the girl. “They make special ear plugs for that, but I get it. My old man’s deaf and water and him do not get along.”

“But, nothing wrong with dipping a foot in. Promise, I wont oogle any bare ankles you might flash.” Jon held up two fingers while pressing the palm of their hand over their heart. “Scouts honor I’m a total gentlemen between eleven and five pm, Monday through Friday. Unless it’s a holiday. Then it’s all fair game for them ankles.”

Bending, the teen worked on untying the laces of their sneakers, struggling with the double knot they hastily tied earlier and lamented not having nails. Their own were short, heavily chewed on and a little brittle from the overuse of their Quirk. Two of them sported flecks of old bruising. Jon gave a triumphed little “yay!” under their breath when they worked the knot loose. Straightening, they toed one sneaker off and ignored the other in favor of speaking.

“I know I got the habit of talkin’ a mile a minute like my life depends on it,” they chuckled at their self awareness, adding a quick wink. “So, if you need me to talk, uh, you know talk slower or whatever, just say the word. I make no promises, but I’ll try.”

“Can’t really swim myself,” they answered offhandedly, staring back out at the nearby pool antics with a rather subdued interest. The quiet moment lasted all of a heartbeat before Jon rapped their knuckles on their prosthetic’s thigh socket, the sound dulled by their shorts. “But, thought I might try this new bad boy out. Supposed to be waterproof, same microprocessor in the knee joint I use in my other ladies.” They paused to twist their legs inward; the prosthetic mirroring their real leg as they briefly knocked their knees together. “thinking of calling her Ariel. What do you think?”