I do not own the Brittas Empire and I make no money from writing this fanfiction.
Tim sighed as he leaned his head against Gavin's shoulder. It was the end of a long day and they were settled down on the sofa watching A Bit of Fry and Laurie. For the first time, they had met the man they would be working for: Gordon Brittas.
The man was somewhat frustrating. He had been very interested in getting started; however he had begun without getting to know any of the staff at all. He had been all smiles without listening to a word anyone said. Tim was hoping that it was just because he was nervous about starting a new job, but he had a horrible feeling that Mr Brittas was always like that.
The rest of the staff were… curious. Tim had been somewhat worried by Colin, deputy manager (wet). The man seemed to have several skin conditions. He rather hoped they would not have to be in the pool at the same time… ever… He really didn't want to catch anything. He was friendly though.
Linda was nice. Despite the problems that had been surrounded with their first day, before they had even opened, Linda had been smiling through it all. Angie had scared him a little, but he thought she might cheer up once they got used to Brittas.
Neil, the table tennis maniac, had been decidedly odd. Tim was optimistic that the man would not be coming back, especially not after trying to kill the new manager. Patrick and Danny were cool. Patrick had been showing off his wedding photos; he was actually pretty handsome in them.
Carole was another one Tim was worried by. He was fairly certain he had seen her shut her baby in one of the drawers, but maybe that had just been the stress of the day.
Thankfully, Tim thought as he turned to cuddled into Gavin's chest, there was one decidedly sane person in the centre who could actually make herself heard; Laura. He really hoped she didn't follow the others and walk out. It'd be a tragedy.
"Tea?" murmured Gavin, though he relaxed position implied he wasn't actually keen to get up.
"Not unless you want one." He replied.
They had tomorrow and Wednesday off, then they would get to meet the Duchess of Kent as she opened the centre officially.
Gavin grinned as he watched Tim's cotton clad arse. The man was hunting for something to wear that would keep him warm. Angie had phoned to check they hadn't quit as well, apparently several people had. She had informed them that they still hadn't got a new heating engineer in and that the front doors were still faulty.
"It's going to be freezing." Tim was groaning.
"So stick a pair of tights on."
"I don't think I have any to match my uniform."
"You have that blue pair."
"They're too thick." Tim's arse dropped to the carpet and he turned to look up at his boyfriend. "I don't want to melt."
"Oh, just wear them. Hopefully Mr Brittas will get it all sorted out soon anyway. It's not as though we are on pool duty today."
"Right…" Tim sighed and pulled his tights out the door. Gavin watched mournfully as those lovely legs were covered in thick fabric and his lover pulled up the tiny blue shorts to hide the exact shape of his delicious buttocks as well. Thankfully, they also covered up the bite mark Gavin had left on the inside of Tim's thighs. It was too low to be covered up by his shorts, which was possibly why Tim was letting himself get talked into wearing the pair of blue tights he didn't much like anymore.
He headed into the bathroom to clean his teeth, listening to his lover complain about a variety of other things, from the fact that they had to wear hats with their names on to the bad feeling he had about Brittas. Gavin left him to it, trying to make himself presentable. He still couldn't believe he and Timmy had managed to get a job in the same place. They would get to be around each other even when they were working.
He just hoped neither of them slipped up and let anyone know they were lovers. Tim had only just turned eighteen a few weeks earlier, on the 25th of August and Gavin's twenty first birthday wasn't until November. Neither of them were old enough to be in a sexual relationship with each other.
Their landlord had been suspicious of them, but Tim's mother had blown his concerns away with her determination. She didn't mind how old they were, as long as he looked after Timmy and made sure the young man phoned her at least once a week.
There was another concern mixed in there; Tim had lied about his name on his application form. While the court order allowed him to bury his past, if they ever had to present proof of identity, Tim would have problems.
"Stop getting yourself worked up." Tim's voice drifted gently through the air. His boyfriend was leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on his face. He was dressed fully now, his shorts, tights, socks and trainers on the bottom, his polo shirt, bum-bag and cap on top. Gavin rinsed his mouth out and walked over to the young man.
"I'm sure it will be fine." How bad could Brittas be, after all? Gavin leaned in to kiss Tim, rubbing his lips softly against his nose. "It'll be fine."
Tim gripped his fingers as they gathered the rest of their stuff and headed out.
Gavin sighed as he sat in the staff restroom. Tim still hadn't come down. He had come back in earlier on, taken one look at Gavin and headed up to see Angie.
He ran his fingers through his hair. He knew he shouldn't have gone out with James on Tuesday, but the man was moving away in a few weeks and Gavin had wanted to have one last night out with him before that. He had had to lie to Tim about it though; the young man was so sensitive about things, and he got very insecure when he saw Gavin near anyone else.
He really had no idea how to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about. James was the first friend he had made after moving up here, nothing more.
"Sorry Gavin." Linda came in and sat down in one of the chairs. "We said you had probably just met someone on the way back from your mother's and popped in for a pint. He was ok with that."
"But…"
"Mr Brittas had a word with him in his office before seeing me. When I came back out Tim was upset again."
Gavin huffed and hid his face. No one had ever explained what to do about this. His aunt, in all her explanations of how to woo a girl, had never explained how to keep your boyfriend happy. His parents had moved to Fiji when Gavin had gotten into to trouble at that gym; they would be most annoyed if he phoned them to ask how to cheer his male partner up. That was where the trouble had started.
He watched as Linda stood up and hurried out, probably going to talk to Tim. He had a suspicious feeling that they hadn't actually hidden their relationship very well.
The door opened and Tim stepped in, arms crossed across his chest and a scowl on his face.
"Timmy… I'm sorry."
Tim continued to scowl at him, his lips pursing slightly as he fought back tears.
"We really only did pop in for a little bit. I met him on my way home." Strictly speaking, there were no lies in there. Gavin had met James on his way home from the shops. Tim didn't need to know that it had been arranged earlier on, or that his mother wasn't actually in the country anymore.
"Really?" His voice was soft and quivered slightly. Gavin stayed back though, he'd wait for Tim to forgive him first.
"Really."
Tim stepped forward, his eyes staring off to the side, but his wish clear. Gavin wrapped his arms around Tim.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
Tim pressed his face into his boyfriend's neck as he returned the embrace.
"Oh, sorry." Laura's voice interrupted them. "I need someone to check on the pool though, if you two wouldn't mind?"
"Sure." Tim nodded, stepping back. "Remember, we'll get to meet the Duchess and then today will be over."
Gavin smiled at her, his stress melting away as he realised that Tim was speaking to him. He pressed a soft kiss to his lips and they headed off together.
Things just got better and better; the centre kept getting hotter and hotter. Patrick smiled at him exhaustedly at him and said to keep an eye out for Satan waltzing past… It was hot enough.
Then as he headed out from the swimming pool, he saw a man on the floor. There was a metal rod on the floor nearby… He called out to Linda as he fell to his knees. The young man had to be Laura's friend that she had invited to stand in William's place.
He wasn't moving, but he was breathing.
Brittas came down and helpfully pointed out that he was unconscious as Linda explained he must have been electrocuted.
Gavin called Laura down to reception before heading off to find an electrician.
There was a group of pensioners in the badminton courts, a group of boy scouts by the changing rooms, they were going to be swimming later but the pool needed sorting out first, there were some families from a local parish in the main hall and then there were the various staff members.
It was a shame they didn't have more information on those they did have in the centre. It would have been far quicker, he mused, if they had had a list of everyone on site and what their professions were.
He past Tim and Danny on his way to the badminton courts. There was sweat dripping off their faces and neither looked terribly happy. Tim mouthed 'Duchess of Kent' at him while grinning wryly. Gavin nodded his head as he looked for the pensioners. They had something to focus on as an end point to all this.
The badminton courts were empty though, so Gavin turned and jogged back down the corridor.
"Tim? Danny? Have you seen the Saga Badminton Club?"
"Laura took them to our dear manager's office before they melted, I think." Tim rolled his eyes as he spoke.
"I need an electrician."
"You won't find one in there." Danny told him. "I was talking to them earlier and they kept talking about how things used to be. There are a few grocers and three farmers though."
"Wonderful." Gavin felt his shoulders droop. He nipped the front of his shirt and wafted it to try and get a breeze on his skin.
"Aren't there some parents down by the hall?"
"Yeah. I'm heading there next."
He jogged on as the heat continued to increase. At this rate the Duchess wouldn't want to step inside the building.
"Excuse me?" Gavin called as he stopped in front of the hall, where there was a crowd of about fifteen people. "Is there an electrician here?"
The crowd was silent. It wasn't a silence filled with any curiosity, or even the silence of careful listeners; it was an exhausted silence. Everyone was slumped on the ground, water bottles rapidly emptying. A few people shook their heads, but no one was really paying him any attention.
He headed towards the swimming pools.
Thankfully the scout leader was accommodating. He told Kevin, on of the boys, to go with Gavin and give them a hand.
"You're an electrician are you?" grumbled Gavin, unhappily.
"Closer as your gonna get." Replied the boy cockily. He had a point though, so Gavin didn't argue.
After handing the kid over, Gavin began trying to phone the boiler room again. His clothes were sticking uncomfortably to his skin. He hoped Tim would have enough sense to take his tights off and stick them in the locker, bite mark or no bite mark.
The phone rang and rang. No one replied. Gavin dropped his head down into his arms, but only for a moment, his skin was too sweaty to rest comfortably there. He could hear others coming into the reception area.
He pulled himself up. Brittas was sending Danny and Patrick off to check on the groups they had sat around, they were to take a large jug of water or two to each of them. Tim was sat on the stairs, his cap still on his head and his tights still on his legs. Molly was on the floor next to him.
Laura and Michael, her friend, were now leaning against a wall and Linda was looking at the plans. Brittas joined her again as Kevin continued to stick the wires back in.
As their manager tried to calm everyone down, Tim began to panic. He had no confidence in Kevin's ability to fix the door.
"He'll never do it! We're going to die. We're all going to die!"
"Tim, Tim. It's okay." Whispered Gavin, crouching down in front of his lover. He ran his hands along the young man's legs in a comforting way. Tim's beautiful blue eyes stared straight into his own. "He'll do it."
"One more wire." Called out the Boy Scout.
As Brittas used this information to reassure them, Molly fainted. Megan and Phil stared blankly ahead, and neither Tim nor Gavin moved to help her. They continued to focus on each other.
Then, Laura delivered more bad news: The Duchess of Kent had arrived. Hastily pulling back on his coat, Brittas ordered them to all line up again. Gavin used the excuse to hold Tim's hand as he helped the other man up.
Timmy gave him an exhausted smile before bobbing down to check on Molly. She managed to stagger to her feet.
In the end, all their panic about where to stand was pointless. Although Mr Brittas had planned to bring the woman up though the boiler room, he realised she might not want to swim through the escaping pool water.
They were the ones to move though the water. When they opened the door, they swam up the first few steps and stepped out the water into the car park.
While the Duchess of Kent may have been less than impressed, Gavin was thrilled to feel a cool breeze on his soaked skin. Beside him, Tim let out a sigh of relief.
"See? We survived." Whispered Gavin.
"Just." But Tim was grinning at him all the same. They all lined neatly up as Brittas told the Duchess that she ought to pick up the sweet wrapper by her feet. After all, the public looked to people higher up for examples on how to act, and she ought to show that littering was an unacceptable action.
Tim was supressing giggles, as were a number of the others. Gavin had a feeling they were more relieved to be out than actually amused.
"Gavin?" Tim whispered as Brittas continued to lecture the royal. "Can we skip going out tonight?"
"I think a quiet evening in is the best idea I've heard all day."