Seungcheol’s still trying to pump air into the numerous floaties he’d brought – maybe there’s too many, considering that he’s teaching only one person, not a full class of children. But he’d been indecisive, wondering which one Jihoon would like, so he’d packed them all. Maybe he’ll use the pink donut floatie – it’ll look adorable; and Seungcheol grins to himself at the thought.

He takes turns with Joshua’s old butler Teddy, working hard to inflate all the floaties so that Jihoon can pick one soon and start their swimming lesson. Seungcheol’s glad that Jihoon’s fine, considering that he’d almost died drowning yesterday. Jihoon hasn’t said anything against his suggestion, so Seungcheol knows it’s safe to proceed with his plans.

The surfer glances over to see Jihoon bouncing on the trampoline, with the happiest expression on his face, laughing to himself. Seungcheol’s never seen anyone that happy – Jihoon has the cutest eyesmile! -  and he vows to do anything, whatever it takes, to keep that smile on the blond’s face.

Teddy’s still wrestling with a couple more floaties, and insists to do it on his own. Seungcheol knows better, and lets him do it, despite the funny image of a man in a formal suit trying to inflate colourful floaties. The surfer drifts over to Jihoon, who’s now attempting somersaults on the trampoline; then lands on his back, his laughter echoing throughout the compound.

A fond grin forms on Seungcheol’s face as he approaches Jihoon, who’s still lying on his back on the trampoline, breathless from his bouncy workout.

“Fun, isn’t it? It’s a good stress reliever.” Seungcheol says, stepping on the trampoline.

Jihoon looks up at Seungcheol, a wide grin still on his face. The older man squats down right next to him, almost toppling over on the elastic surface onto Jihoon’s lying form, but he manages to keep his balance.

“Jihoonie, are you okay after what happened yesterday?”

The smile on the blond’s face disappears as smoothly as the words that slip out of Seungcheol’s mouth. He looks directly into Seungcheol’s deep brown eyes, which are full of concern; then looks away, unable to hold Seungcheol’s intense gaze, and scrutinises the surfer’s full lips instead, which look soft and highly kissable -

Oh.

“If you don’t want to go into the water today, it’s fine; we can look for something else to do. But I really want to teach you how to swim.”

Jihoon looks up at the canvas of the blue sky above – it’s an impossibly brilliant blue, as if someone had painted it. He senses the sincerity in Seungcheol’s voice.

Jihoon musters all of his courage and glances at Seungcheol again, focusing on his nose instead. “Let’s do it.”

He’s had too many bad incidents in the water; it’s time he had some good ones, so this would be a nice start to it.

Seungcheol smiles widely at his agreement, his dimples in full gear. “Nice!” He holds out a hand to help Jihoon up, and Jihoon takes it. His hand feels small compared to the surfer’s, but somehow it fits perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle. 

“I have so many things prepared for you today.” Seungcheol’s excited, like a little child; as the two of them walk back together to the pool area. Teddy’s standing by the pile of floaties, nodding at the pair as they approach. He seems to be done inflating them all, and it looks like a garage sale of floaties by the pool. Jihoon scrunches his nose when he sees the pile – he has an idea of what’s about to happen, and it’s going to be ridiculous.

Seungcheol rushes over to the pile and picks up a bright yellow floatie. “You get to pick one! I brought them all, since I didn’t know which one you’d like. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Is that a duck floatie?” Jihoon looks warily to the item that Seungcheol’s holding. It even has a duck head and little wings.

“Cute, isn’t it? Wanna try it?”

Jihoon rummages through the pile of floaties, most which are fit for children; with its obnoxiously bright colours and fun designs.

“Don’t you have a kickboard?”

“Nope, sorry.”

Jihoon remembers his little blue kickboard he’d used when he was younger. It had been good times, except for the last lesson before Soonyoung had suggested that they quit. That little kickboard had been his lifeline throughout that one particular summer of swimming lessons.

Jihoon tries again. “Don’t you have anything more inconspicuous?”

“I teach kids sometimes, so these mostly work on them.” Seungcheol shrugs.

Jihoon wonders if he looks like a child to Seungcheol, but it’s hard to be mad at the older guy when he’s wearing that easy smile on his face; so he sighs inwardly, hoping that he doesn’t have to end up using the pink donut.

“Oh, hang on, someone’s calling me. Just pick one, then we can start our lesson.” Seungcheol pulls his phone out of the pocket of his shorts and answers the call.

Teddy subtly leans over to whisper to Jihoon. “There’s a pair of arm bands over there, Mr Jihoon, I think it fits your preference.”

“Thanks.” Jihoon easily finds the arm bands - they’re just plain white. Teddy nods back at him as Jihoon inspects them thoroughly, just in case there’s some secret fancy colourful design hidden somewhere.

“Yes, Soonyoung, he’s fine, he’s not crying, don’t worry.” Seungcheol says into his phone, throwing a quick glance at Jihoon. He looks fine, so far. “Fine, I’ll give the phone to him – “

Seungcheol instantly loses his words when he turns around sees the tiny Jihoon already prepared for his swimming lesson. He’s wearing his usual slick black-and-red wetsuit, with white arm floaties fitted perfectly on each of his arms - they look like fluffy marshmallows stuck onto his limbs. He stands awkwardly with his arms