The Prophecy of 8 (Ateez Greek Mythology AU)

Chapter 7: The Seas

Seonghwa always loved the water. Although he hated working. He started his job as a lifeguard at the local pool center a few months ago. It pays well, but all he does is just sit there. Nobody ever drowns, so he can never save anyone. He wishes he could be in the water as the lifeguard, but he has to sit on this uncomfortable chair high up in the air, and Seonghwa HATES heights. He can climb up fine, but once he is up there he is always worried he will fall. The climb down is the worst part. It all stemmed from a memory when he was younger. He was helping his mom work on the roof of their house, everything was going well until he wanted to go back down. Making his way towards the ladder he tripped, rolled down the slanted roof and fell off the roof of the house. The drop was only 10 feet, and he landed on grass, but it still led to a broken arm... and an extreme fear of being off the ground. The worst part about the broken arm was not being able to do his two favorite things. Swimming, and horseback riding. Now when people hear that he likes to ride horses they usually stereotype him into some sort of male version of a horse girl. Which he isn't, and there's nothing wrong with being a horse girl anyways. When his arm first healed he couldn't even ride horses because even being that far off the ground scared him. That took a few months to get over as well. His inability to swim while the cast was on was much more disheartening though. He feels safe in the water, nothing can hurt him and he can be alone.

He likes to go underwater for as long as possible without resurfacing. He feels like his senses are heightened and sometimes he even swears he can communicate with the sealife he sees. When his arm was broken the only time he had contact with water was in the shower... which was made uncomfortable by the plastic bag around his cast that he had to hold out of the shower curtain. When his cast was finally taken off the first thing he did was go to the beach and swim. He was 10 years old then and that was his first instance of him seeing a dolphin up close. He ran into the water and swam out quite far, he was a skilled swimmer even when he was younger. He goes out much further now that he's an older, more mature 19. But 10 year old him pushed the limits too. He was decently far out, ready to do his routine of going underwater and holding his breath, he could hold his breath for a mere 2 minutes back then. Now his record is 7 minutes. While he was under the water he felt something brush his arm. He quickly jumped back in fear and opened his eyes. Only to see a dolphin swimming around him. Seonghwa's eyes grew wide at the beautiful animal. Now when he goes out and swimws, sealife approaches him almost every day. His mother insists he is an ocean life whisperer, Seonghwa just thinks the animals can sense his caring nature.

Seonghwa always grew up privileged, despite not having a father figure. His mother owned a house on the beach. He could go out and swim in the ocean whenever he wanted, or go out back to the stables and ride horses. He wasn't sure how his mother made so much money just from being a writer. Clearly her books sell well. She mainly writes on Greek Mythology, her most recent book being about Posiedon, the God of the oceans... and horses. Seonghwa can relate to him a lot.

Seonghwa decided to stop zoning out and actually do his job. He began looking at all the pool guests, blowing the whistle that he has hanging around his neck whenever he saw someone breaking the rules. Despite there being a large sign saying things like "no running, no diving in the shallow end, no dunking." The kids never listen. Seonghwa was staring at the different party guests when he saw a cute guy checking him out. Seonghwa knows he's hot, being a lifeguard he is just in a bathing suit. His abs and muscles being on show for everyone who wanted to see, and he has definitely caught a few guys checking him out. Women too, of course, but that's not really his type. He admits he kinda likes it when people check him out, except for when it's old men, who he has unfortunately also caught staring at him. Seonghwa also enjoyed some of the eye candy around the pool. Hot guys swimming, jumping off the diving board and doing flips. He always enjoyed watching the tricks and flips some people pull off. Seonghwa continued scanning the pool area when he felt a tap on his leg.