Swimming was a little bit harder than he thought.
It didn't help that Yeongchan, Hyeokjin, and Jaehyung were terrible at explaining the motions one uses to swim properly.
In the end, they invited Seokju with the request that they bring along swimming goggles for Ijin to use.
Thankfully, Seokju did show up with swim goggles. They had noticed the way Yeona was nowhere to be seen, but they understood that she wasn't allowed to go with them since they were all boys and there was not a single female with them to be her companion.
Ijin had seen the consequences of there being a lone female in Grian far too many times. He understood.
With the goggles, Ijin was able to watch them underwater, observing the way they would move their limbs underwater to propel themselves forward. Not that it helped him learn how to swim.
Although, things didn't start to get interesting until Seokju jumped into the pool with them. It was like a switch had been flipped in them when they saw their companion join them.
"RAAAAAA!" Hyeokjin let out a battle cry as he wrapped his arms around Ijin's waist from behind to lift him out of the water just enough to throw him back down. A smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth, even as he resurfaced.
It looks like it was going to be that way.
He pushed his hair out of his face with a smile, chuckling at the way Hyeokjin was trying to get away from him, using his arms to help him move faster in the four-feet deep water.
He caught up in no time, wrapping his arms around Hyeokjin's waist just as his friend did to him moments before," Nooooo! " despite Hyeokjin's words, Ijin could tell that he was having fun.
He slammed the teenager into the water, quickly wading away so Hyeokjin couldn't retaliate.
His feet slipped when he stepped onto the tile of the pool floor, much to the other's joy. He could hear the other's mirth before he slipped under the water.
A pair of hands wrapped around his ankles, and he let whoever grabbed him drag him through the water.
Just as he poked his head out of the water, he was only able to take a breath before yet another body was landing on his midsection, forcing back him underwater.
Laughter bubbled out of his mouth when he resurfaced, pulling his ankles out of whoever's hands were holding onto him.
This was fun.
He should have done this a long time ago.
He pointed his attention towards Seokju, who immediately noticed that he was the only one that didn't back away," Don't you dare Ijin!" Seokju started to move away from him, a smile on his face as he did so.
Despite the fact that he couldn't swim, he was able to get to Seokju before he got away to the deeper side.
He nearly tackled his friend as he wrapped his arms around Seokju's thighs and picked him up. Seokju let out a yelp, his hands scrambling for a handhold on the back of his swim shirt.
He slammed Seokju into the water, just like the Major did to him all those months ago in the foam pads. At the same time, Seokju managed to pull the back of Ijin's swim shirt over his head.
Ijin sputtered as he tried to peel his shirt away from his face, the cloth effectively blinding him.
"Hey!" He sputtered as he felt someone latch onto him from behind.
"All is fair in love and war!" Yeongchan's voice was loud in his ear, his friend's arms and legs wrapped around his upper body as he tried to pull Ijin off balance. Yeongchan wasn't nearly heavy enough to knock him off balance.
It would have never worked if he was alone.
His friends jumped at the chance of catching him off guard, "Get him!"
"Payback baby!"
He felt someone else grab him from behind. A yelp slipped past his lips as two other people teamed up to push him back into the water.
As soon as he surfaced, he gave up on trying to fix his shirt and instead peeled it off him entirely. Quickly balling it up in his hands with a grin on his face.
They collectively had an 'oh shit' look on their faces, the four of them scrambling to get away when they saw him wind his arm back, his swim shirt dripping from his hand.
And he didn't know what made it so funny.
But the satisfying smack of his wet shirt wrapping around Jaehyung's head was hilarious.
He snorted into his hand, truly breaking out in laughter once he heard the others start laughing as well.
He laughed even harder when his shirt was thrown back at him, wrapping around his face just like it did to Jaehyung's moments before.
He threw it back at Seokju, who was too busy laughing into his hand to stop it from smacking against his face.
Seokju almost glared at him as he peeled the swim shirt off of his face.
He could already see Seokju's promise of revenge in his friend's eyes.
Ijin grinned.
"Bite me."