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“I just wanted to make sure I can look good for him,” Seele murmured from the dressing room.“Seele, you’d look good to him in whatever you wore, he isn’t that complicated. He must mean a great deal if you are willing to look…womanly.” Bronya half-snorted out the last part, just trying to rile her up.“I can look womanly! It just isn’t efficient.”“Uh-huh. Anyways, how about you try this? I think it would be reminiscent of your leotard” She handed over a dark purple one-piece over the dressing room door.“I wanna appear a bit more memorable though.”“You’re the one that refused all the other suits. “How can I wear this? It’s practically nothing.’” She impersonated her.“That’s because they are!”“Seele, with all due respect you must be aware that you wear shorts most of the time…”“Are you trying to say something?!” A bang came from the dressing room“He would ogle at you regardless, and he probably ogles at you already.”“Fine! Give me the swim trunks and the top. I’ll take the swimshirt as well. I’ll take off the swimshirt if I feel like it.”“Something tells me you will.”“Shut up!”Bronya was glad this opportunity had arisen, she assumed Seele had a crush on Caelus with how much she asked about his whereabouts and her timidness involving messaging him on her phone for the longest time. She finally fessed up to her feelings towards him by well…telling Bronya, and not him. So it was up to her to play matchmaker, and the opening of the Belobog Community Center and the pools were a good place to start. She was proud of Seele for growing, especially towards positive emotions associated with crushes, and someone like Caelus was perfect to bring her out of her shell, and from what she had heard, he was already doing that. She just had to set them up and the rest would just fall into place, a simple date at the pool would get it done and dusted, Seele was an attractive and fairly joyful girl to be around, she’d have no trouble catching Caelus…probably…hopefully.“Are you sure this is a good idea? I don’t even know how to swim.” She stepped out of the changing room with her new clothes. “And that’s why he’s teaching you.” Bronya put a few hangers on the dressing room door. “Ugh, I know I just…don’t want everyone to see me flailing around.” She pouted at her. “You two will have a pool away from everyone, it’ll be in the same room but there won’t be as many prying eyes. Plus being vulnerable is how you build relationships, Seele. He’d love you for the girl beneath you just as much as the girl you portray.” Bronya adjusted Seele’s swimshirt for her. “Well, what do you think?” She brought Seele to a mirror.A plain white swimshirt, hanging slightly off her body as it was just a touch oversized, but it would do the job of hiding Seele’s skin as much as she wanted. A pair of purple swim trunks and a top piece stuck out a bit beneath the white garment. Bronya was proud of her work, it fit Seele well. “Yeah…I can work with this.” Seele cracked her knuckles, what was she planning? “Hey Seele!” Caelus waved, hanging out by a table near the pool. She gave a wave back and hurried over. Caelus…had a gray pair of swim trunks and that was it, giving Seele a view she hurriedly avoided staring at lest she pretty much tell Caelus with her eyes that she found his bare chest attractive. Damn him and his perfect smile and caring attitude, backed by a handsome face and a…body…yes a body. A yelp at the back of her mind pushed the thoughts aside, she had a lesson to attend. “Hey Caelus, hope I’m not troubling you for taking your time like this.” She took a seat across the table, trying to keep her eyes up. “Ah, not at all, anything for you Seele. Plus I heard that this place was open and had to see it for myself, a swimming pool in Belobog, even if it is indoors it’s crazy to imagine. I’m used to freezing out there, not sitting inside a warm humid room, it’s nice.” Small talk…she could get with that. “Yeah, it’s a totally different experience, I see why people are eager to try and swim. Is there anything I should know going into this?” Caelus slid a pair of goggles towards her, purple, just like her outfit. “Nothing really, other than you’ll want these to see, since the chlorine will burn your eyes. We’ll take it step by step. Just wading through before getting your head under then some strokes, you’ll catch on fast,” He sat up from her seat, leading her to do the same, leading her to the water. The two began in the shallow end, slowly making her way through the depth markers to the side until the water stopped at her waist. “We’ll stick to the edges for now so you can hold on. Our bodies can float naturally so we’ll start with some strokes. Follow me.” They moved until her chest was below the water, her neck and shoulders poking out as the rest of her body stayed in the relatively warm water. Her hair dragged through the water.“We’re just gonna float for now, so tilt yourself back.” His hand rested on her back, letting her focus on moving. She nodded to confirm her orders. She let his hand keep her above as she moved back, her hair swirling out in amethyst streaks in all directions. Then her feet left the tiled floor, her body seemingly weightless in the water, rising to the surface. Caelus slowly eased his hands out from her back and legs, letting her float. She looked at him, his warm eyes nestled into a smile as he let her float for a while, she smiled back at him, getting a light blush from the Trailblazer. She wondered if he was checking her ou- “Alright, try to get yourself up, just dip your legs down to hit the floor and lift up.” And so she did, bringing herself upright, wobbling a bit as her steps wadded through the water. “Good, now let’s try a breaststroke or a simpler version of it. You’ll be moving during it so get ready, you’ll rest in the water on your belly and move through the water with your feet and arms, just make sure your head is craned above the water, I’ll hold you up at first.” Another smile, ugh…she was down bad. The day dissolved into a concoction of lessons, ones she was learning slowly but surely. She may be confident wielding a scythe the size of her body, but in the water she was knocked down a couple hundred pegs. She at least learned how to propel herself through the water on her belly and back, using her legs and hands to get motion from the water. “Your swimshirt is a bit too oversized though, the edges of it are dragging through the water, it doesn’t matter now since you are already going slow but to go faster you can’t have drag.” She blushed at the point he made, she wouldn’t mind showing herself to him…but it was embarrassing she had to admit, her crush seeing her bare belly, only a top and swim trunks to conceal her skin from him was...a step. Caelus blushed at the sight of her own red cheeks, the misspoken words dawning on him. “Oh…sorry I shouldn’t have said that- sorry do what you want I-” Seele cut him off. “I don’t mind…since it’s you.” What was she saying?! “O-okay.” He stuttered out, not sure what to make of that comment. Watching her take off the drenched swimshirt, getting a terribly massive blush from him.'Those idiots are so in love. If anyone else looked at her like that she would have killed them.’ Bronya laughed to herself from a distant table, taking notice of the blushes on their cheeks as Seele took off her swimshirt. She was barely in earshot of them, drinking up every embarrassing word they said, all the while being only in the corner of their vision, perfectly unnoticeable. “So how did it go, Seele?” Bronya walked up to the lone Seele, waving to Caelus as he made his way to the exit, Seele still wrapped up in a towel as she dried in her chair. “It went...well…” she whispered with an obvious and cute blush. “I booked this place for the next week so you two will have plenty of time together, make it count Seele, he’s bit the bait hard. Taking off your swimshirt for him already, oh how things move fast.” She gave her friend a smug grin, getting an easy rise out of Seele. “It was just practical. But i’m so ughhh! I told him I didn’t mind if he saw me without the shirt as long as it was him, I totally just-”“Perfect! I knew you could do it! Let’s get something in the food court!” Bronya yanked Seele from her chair, eager to treat her and dig into the details of her date with Caelus and of course, why she was so down bad for him. Pretzels and soda, a real waterpark specialty and a flawless meal. Seele practically devoured her meal while Bronya treated it as it should be, picked apart into segments and dipped into the cheese. “Quite the appetite from lessons?” Bronya inched her pretzel closer lest her friend snatches it up in a fit of hunger as she stuffed half of her own pretzel down her throat. “Yeah, Caelus mentioned how gravity is different in water so you do more work than you would on land.” The embarrassing teases Bronya made earlier had all but left her mind. “But I imagine you knew that since you know how to swim and all that. Speaking of which where’s your suit, can’t let me do all the work out here.”“I recall you intending this to be a date between you and him, I wouldn’t want to spoil your time with him by interjecting myself.” She looked out the windows of the food court into the pools. “I guess…but still you should enjoy yourself, it was your idea to make this place and you’re the one helping me out here, I want you to take a break as well.” Bronya smiled at her friend's concern, “Please, seeing you happy is a good enough reward for me, besides, as Supreme Guardian I could never take such a long break. When the activities begin here I might swim just to boost attendance, that will be my break. Now it’s my turn for the talking.” A bite of her pretzel, Seele looked at her with a bit of concern at the coming questions.“Although I approve of it anyway, why Caelus?” Bronya wanted to understand the thought process of Seele, rather than speculate, it was probably nothing more than he is kind, handsome, and bends his ear at any available moment, but you never knew, there was a great deal of depth to Seele. She blushed at the question, “Oh, uh…It kinda happened when we were going on missions in the Underworld and I let some stuff slip that I shouldn’t have and he was stubborn enough to hear my stories and little vents. He kept bringing me comics and books to read as practice or just enjoy, he’s done a lot for me and Belobog and I want to repay him…and of course just treat myself, heh.” She let out an awkward chuckle, ending with her true intentions, she just wanted someone. “As I thought, he has a way of bringing people around him to such a comfortable place.” Bronya smiled at her. “Well, anyways how was your progress with your swimming and of course, your relationship?”“Oh! I can move my limbs to move me in the water but I still feel kinda wobbly. Breaststrokes, that’s what he called them, I can also float fine on my back, Caelus said I’m a bit wobbly because my weight is a bit too low.” She munched on the pretzel before leaning back into the chair. “But uh things with me and Caelus are…going? I don’t know how this stuff works but he seemed to like our progress but he was blushing sometimes, especially about the swimshirt thing, ugh that sucked but at least he seemed fine. I hope I’m not being weird or anything.”Bronya laughed at her timidness, “Well from what I saw, you two were flirting! Plus being willing to be more open to him lets him know you are comfortable near him. You should have more confidence, Seele, Belobog wasn’t built in a day and neither are relationships, just build it up over time and he’ll fall into your palms, why not ask him to walk you home tomorrow?”“Bronya, I can handle myself just fine, I don’t need someone to-”Bronya raised a finger, “We all know that, as I said earlier, it’s about giving signs, it tells him you trust him. You could even invite him inside and-” Bronya’s teases were interrupted by a few sputters from Seele. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!”Seele looked off to the side, summoning some courage to at least mumble a response to her idea, “Sure…tomorrow.”