“Baby, you have to come in before I can teach you.”

Minho’s waded waist deep into the pool, gesturing for Jonghyun to come in after him. Though he has a lifejacket on, though he knows that Minho’s a strong swimmer, though he knows there’s a lifeguard sitting off to the side, Jonghyun can’t bring himself to go into the water. He’d never learned as a child and felt to scared and embarrassed to pursue lessons on his own as he got older. The pool is empty, as it should be for it being 11pm, but Jonghyun is still worried about looking like a fool.

“What if I....don’t want to?” Jonghyun counters, testing the waters of Minho’s determination.

“I’m not going to force you to, baby. I’m not that mean. Also rough housing isn’t allowed at the pool.”

Jonghyun stays where he is and Minho starts walking back up and out of the pool. He stays a few steps away, as to not get him wet, but reaches out for his hands.

“I promise I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want. That’s always been the case. This is no different, baby. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come sit on the edge here and just put your feet in. I’ll swim some laps on the other side. If you feel like maybe you want to try coming in further, then we’ll try it and if not we’ll call it a day. Does that work?”

Jonghyun nods and lets Minho lead him to the edge of the pool. He sits down, tentatively pushing his legs over the side and into the water. Once he’s situated, Minho goes around to the otherside as promised and starts swimming. After five or so laps, he stops and wades over to Jonghyun’s side. He stays out of reach of Jonghyun.

“How you feeling?”

“Uhh I’m feeling a no.”

“Ok. We can go if you want. Eventually though, you’re going to have to take the dive. Semi-metaphorically, of course.”

“Semi-metaphorically? Don’t you mean semi-literally?”

“No. Semi-metaphorically. You can’t dive in this pool. It’s only five feet at its deepest point you’ll crack your head open if you try to dive in here.”

Jonghyun laughs as he pulls his legs out of the water.

“I’ll grab you a towel and let the lifeguard know we’re leaving.”