Tim sighed as he stared at the clock. Any minute now, the tumble tots class would be finished; the women could pack up and go home. Tim would be left putting all the mats away by himself, but it would be quiet.
He'd never admit it out loud, but he actually rather enjoyed the classes… Well, sometimes. There was a young girl named Katie who liked to bring him pictures. He had kept two of them; the first one she had ever drawn for him, a picture of him in the sun with some cows, because she liked cows. Honestly, Tim couldn't see himself, the sun or the cows in the mesh of colours that had been scribbled over the paper, but he had kept it. The next one was a picture of Tim and Gavin. Again, it wasn't terribly recognisable, but it was clearly two people. Katie was three and a half, so she understood people had heads, eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth, with two arms, two legs and hair. Neither of them had a body, but whatever. He quite liked it.
There were a few other children in the class he liked. In the two months he had been keeping an eye on the class, he had come to a decision; children were easily the most messily things living on this Earth. They were loud, annoying and incapable of wiping their noses. However, he could cope with them for a couple of hours, two times a week. He was infinitely glad that he and Gavin couldn't have children though.
"Tim… I made this for you." One of the girls whispered… Amelia, was it? She looked him in the eye, but her shoulders were hunched up, shyly.
"Thank you." He smiled. It felt fake, so he took a deep breath and gave her another one. She smiled back before running off. It was a picture…. Maybe. It was a bunch of squiggles in bright crayons. He folded it up and put it in his pocket.
He wondered if Gavin was finished in the pool yet. There was an underwater wedding going on in there this morning. Tim had no idea why anyone would want to get married here, the stress levels would not decrease around Brittas.
"Fifteen minutes." He shouted, when the large hand finally touched the nine.
He stood up and began to put the softballs back into the net bag; none of the children were playing with them anyway. A few of the mothers grinned at him.
"Looking forward to a quiet room?" one of them asked.
"Yes." He replied with a smile. There was no point denying it.
"Is your Gavin going to be there?" Katie's mother asked. There was a group of women who had figured him out very quickly. Unfortunately, they seemed to have accepted him as one of the girls… It would be fine if only they could stop teasing him.
"There is a wedding going on in the pool. I won't see him until that is over, and I'm not sure how long it will take."
"Ohhh, that sounds so romantic." Sighed a young mother. Tim gave her a smile and started to put stray bean bags away.
"I got married on the beach, up north. It really wasn't as nice as I had planned." The women continued their conversation without him. They never talked about anything interesting. He would have liked to discuss yesterday's Formula One race, Ayrton Senna had won the shortest race ever; just seventeen laps. Tim had loved it. Gavin had watched it with him, but he wasn't really interested in it.
"Oh, Chrissy… Did it rain?"
"No… It was just windy. My nephews just wanted to be in the water and everyone else wanted to be inside. Got some lovely photos though."
Tim tried to imagine what kind of wedding he might have liked. Nothing fancy, he didn't think. Gavin wasn't terribly fussed about anything like that. He'd rather be cooking the food anyway. He was good at cooking and it was relaxing.
"Five minutes." He called out, still picking bits of equipment up. It was surprising how much mess kids under five could make. They managed it every time though.
Mothers started to round their children up. Mr Brittas liked people out of the door on the dot and he would happily explain the reasons why to anyone who would complain. No one did… anymore.
One of the group leaders began to clear away the stuff she had brought with them, so Tim began to drag the empty mats over to the cupboard.
"Bye, Timmy. See you on Friday." Called out one of the children.
"Bye." He called as he dragged another mat over. Gavin usually gave a hand with this… He mustn't be finished yet.
"Bye!" called out a young boy as he felt holding onto his mother. A number of other children called out as well.
It took longer than usual to clear the mats away on his own. The two group leaders would have helped, but they had to be out the hall with the mothers when the clock struck ten o'clock.
Once he got back to the staffroom, Tim chucked the picture into his locker and dropped down into a chair. He had half an hour before he was scheduled to be anywhere.
It was wonderfully quiet…
"Tim?" The door creaked open and Gavin peaked his head in.
"Are you alright?" Tim stood up and hurried over to his boyfriend, pulling the man inside.
"There's a problem. Would you mind giving a hand?" Gavin was soaked through, wearing a pair of flippers, his shorts and nothing else.
"Sure." Tim grinned, pulling Gavin close when he turned to leave. "You gonna tell me what's the problem?"
"Oh right." Tim ran his hands up Gavin's arms. He liked those arms. They were strong, comforting… Gavin was still speaking though. "The best man's dropped the ring."
"Tell him to pick it up then." Tim leaned in and pressed a light kiss to Gavin's neck.
"Umm… He can't."
"What?" Tim pulled his face back, but he slid his arms around Gavin's shoulders.
"He dropped it down a grate." Gavin rested his hands on Tim's hips and looked pleadingly at the younger man.
"Oh fine. Let's go." Tim huffed, but he kissed Gavin softly before heading out the door. "Wait. We need to stop at the equipment locker first."
There was some acrylic paper and grease pencils on little boards in there for when the scuba diving groups were in. Mr Brittas liked to be prepared for every possibility, but Tim hadn't ever expected to need to communicate with someone who was underwater.
Most of the guests had cleared out by the time they got to the swimming pool. Tim kicked off his shoes and tugged his polo shirt over his head before joining Gavin in the water.
"Has someone gone to get Brittas?" He asked, watching Gavin pull of a snorkel.
"Yeah. Colin went."
Tim nodded and took a deep breath before going down to have a look.
The man's finger was stuck in there. Tim had no idea how he had gotten it so far through the grate, but he had managed it. He prodded gently at the puffy skin. It must have absorbed some of the water and gotten bigger.
"I don't know." Tim sighed as he looked at Gavin. "Here, give him this."
Tim passed Gavin the pencil and paper he had left by the side. The man pulled his goggled and snorkel over his face again and headed back down as Brittas strode into view.
"Okay. How did it happen?" Brittas asked as he went to stand by Colin, the minister and the groom.
"The service was going fine. Th-The bride and groom were just giving each other the thumbs up sign." Replied the minister with wide eyes.
"And Rick, that's the best man…" Colin pointed at the poor sod stuck in the water with Gavin. "Dropped the ring."
Tim stared down at Gavin. Rick was trying to write something on the paper. The man kept touching Gavin… It was fortunate Tim knew how difficult it was to avoid that when you were stuck underwater right next to someone.
Gavin surfaced again, paddling over to Brittas. Tim stayed where it was.
"Well, Gavin." Brittas crouched down by the side of the pool. "How's it going?"
"He's not happy, Mr Brittas. He gave me this message."
Tim swam over to them, keeping back a little to take in the view of his lover.
"I… am… running… Writing's not up to much, is it?" Brittas squinted at the letters as Colin explained it was Rick's right hand stuck in the grate. "Yes, I am aware of that, Colin. I am running… Can you see where he's running?"
Brittas held the message out for the minister to read.
"No…" the man shook his head.
"I think it's out of air, Mr Brittas." Gavin spoke up.
"Air? How did you make air from that?" Brittas crouched down again to show Gavin the words.
"Well, it's not so much the writing, more the colour of his face. It's sort of…. purple-ish." Gavin explained.
"Vicar, can we borrow your tank?" Brittas asked.
The minister passed it down to Tim. It was surprisingly heavier than he had thought, but Tim took it and paddled back out the where Rick was. He took a deep breath and went under again.
Tim set the tank down on the floor and put the mouth piece in for the man. As Rick's colour returned to a better shade, Tim worked on detaching the empty tank. It probably would have gone quicker if he hadn't had to go up for air. He got distracted by Gavin handing over the paper again and trying to soap up the finger. He kept dropping the soap.
Gavin headed back up soon, defeated by the soap as Tim began to fasten the new tank to Rick.
Once it was in place, Tim headed back up. Typical… everyone had cleared out. He glanced back down at the unlucky guy who had gotten stuck, before swimming to the side and pulling himself out.
The man could breathe, there was no point hanging around in the water. He sat on the edge and waited to see if anyone was coming back.
Gavin returned, clutching a screwdriver.
"He says we have to remove the grate."
"Won't that cause problems later on?"
"Doesn't matter now. He's shut the pool." Gavin sat down next to him, leaning over to press a quick kiss to the corner of Tim's mouth. They slid back into the pool and Gavin headed down to unscrew the grate.
It was barely ten seconds before Gavin was back up.
"Wrong screwdriver."
"You what?"
"I think we need a Philips Screwdriver, not this…"
"Wonderful."
"In, out, in, out." Gavin grinned weakly at him. "No idea where we'll find a Philips though.
"Try Colin? Come on." They got out yet again. "I'm not hanging around here. I'm cold."
"I've left a spare towel in the changing rooms for you. See you in a bit." Gavin headed out through the doors that lead to reception as Tim went to the changing rooms to grab the towel.
He wandered through to the staff room, towel wrapped around his shoulders. It was cold. You could tell it was early November. He headed over to his locker. It was Guy Fawkes Night tomorrow. He and Gavin were going to a bonfire in the field at the back of Bill's house. Bill and Jack always threw a good party.
Dried off, Tim got dressed and headed up to check on the squash courts, where he was meant to be right now.
He groaned when he got up the stairs. Of course it wasn't quiet; there was a man in an invalid cart chucking beer cans into the courts.
"Excuse me, sir." Tim fixed a smile onto his face as he headed over. "Will you please not do that?"
"Piss off!"
"Sir?" He hated having to be polite sometimes.
"I told you. Piss off!"
Tim scowled. Fuck that. He turned and jogged down the stairs. Brittas was there, as unhelpful as ever. Tim gave Carole a wry grin as the doors opened.
It was Gavin, still dressed in wet shorts, flippers and a snorkel.
"What are you outside like that for?" asked Tim, hurrying over.
"Mr Brittas told me to go buy a screwdriver, but I think I should get dressed first."
"Too right, you should!" Tim pulled his idiotic boyfriend into the staff restroom. "You'll catch your death!"
Gavin gave him a smile, but didn't say anything as Tim rigorously dried him off. While he would usually do this slower, take time to enjoy his lover's bare skin, Tim wanted to get the man dressed again. As if he had gone outside dressed like that… What an idiot.
"Better?" He asked after a while. Gavin nodded. "Come on."
Tim took his boyfriend's hand and led him to the shower area.
"Strip." He would have insisted the man shower to warm up, but he'd be okay for now and Tim wanted some help with the drunken man in the wheelchair.
Gavin removed everything and then leaned over to kiss him.
"I'm not that cold. Stop worrying."
Tim glared at him for a moment, but he couldn't keep it up. He pulled Gavin close, running his hands up and down the chilled skin. Gavin kissed him again, this time deeper. Tim shut his eyes an opened his mouth.
"Sorry. We'd best not." Gavin pulled back, his expression apologetic. Tim grinned at the evidence of his lover's rising interest, but he gamely went and collected some dry clothes for Gavin to wear.
"Hey, Gavin?" a thought suddenly occurred to Tim. "Don't we have a screwdriver in the car?"
"You know, we might." Gavin accepted the clothes and began to pull them on. "I'll go check."
They walked through to the staffroom again, but Gavin took a moment to press Tim against the lockers and devour his mouth. Tim moaned softly and returned the kiss enthusiastically.
"Just to keep me going." Gavin gave him an innocent look, before walking out. Tim groaned and adjusted himself before following.
They went in different directions when they got out, Colin rounding Tim up to help stack cardboard boxes up in one of the corridors. The man in the motorised wheelchair was still loose. Linda was happy to lend a hand too.
Naturally, Brittas was less than impressed with their barrier. Tim wondered what instructions Colin had actually been given with regard to the boxes, but chose not to speak up. He had a feeling that standing on the fire step and shooting the man, wasn't Brittas' plan of action.
Gavin jogged back over to them, the screwdriver in his hand. Tim smiled over at the man as he got pushed to the side by Brittas, who was busy talking to Colin about what he had done wrong. Tim rather felt sorry for Colin sometimes, he tried hard and was utterly underappreciated by Brittas.
Gavin kept trying to point out that he couldn't get to Rick, but Brittas didn't want to hear it. Tim put his hand lightly on the man's back to let him know he was there.
"Just leave it for a moment." He mouthed, taking the screwdriver off him. Rick had that tank of air, he'd be alright.
Brittas made his demands to have the barricade taken down as the man crashed through the boxes. Tim pressed into the wall, trying to keep out of that way. No one stopped the man as he continued on.
"You bastard!" swore Brittas. "You won't get away with this. You'll pay for this, every penny of damage, you hear me? Every penny!"
"Mr Brittas!" Shouted Colin as Tim stared in shock at the boxes that were strewn over the floor. They were going to have to do something… "Mr Brittas, I think I've shot Gavin!"
"Gavin!" yelped Tim as he turned. Gavin's arm was pinned to the door with the mini harpoon. "Are you alright?"
What a daft question, he thought as Colin explained he had shot the thing accidently, Gavin had something through his arm! Of course he wasn't alright!
"Talk to me Gavin, say something!" he could feel his voice squeaking, as though he was still in the grip of puberty, but he didn't care. Brittas was trying to calm him down, but Gavin had passed out! There was blood and everything! Tim pressed a hand against his jaw, trying to support his head.
"Let's see if we can't pull this thing out." Said Brittas; Tim couldn't stop the little scream that slipped out. Thankfully, Linda stopped the man. If they took it out, he might bleed even worse!
"It's got barbs."
"Is that blood? He's hurt!" His voice was squeaking again.
"I don't think so." Linda stared at Gavin's arm. "He's more sort of… pinned…"
"Gavin!"
Tim tried to move his head to see if he would wake up. It didn't help. His eyes were blurry and his chest felt tight. He could hear Brittas trying to sort out the man in the invalid cart instead of helping Gavin. That was unacceptable. They couldn't wait here until Carole called the paramedics, who knew if they would actually show up! They emergency services were getting a little hesitant to come out here anymore.
"He's unconscious, Mr Brittas. He could be bleeding to death!" He cried before stalking over, holding the screwdriver under the man's chin. "We can't just wait for an ambulance!"
"All right, all right, all right…" Brittas pushed the screwdriver out the way. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's put that screwdriver to use."
He got them to carefully unscrew the hinges on the door and take it down. Tim kept an eye on Gavin's arm. It was still bleeding. He tried to focus on the task at hand. He knew he was a little hysterical at the moment, but he couldn't seem to help it.
Phil came down the corridor, stopping and staring at the scene he encountered, but Brittas made use of him. They hurried along to reception, carrying Gavin on the door. Tim stared at Gavin's chest; he knew it was still moving up and down, but it helped keep the tears at bay. He kind of wanted to scream; this was a nightmare!
In the reception area, Tim was aware of the group of women fussing about something, but he couldn't take his attention aware from his boyfriend. He glanced over a few times, but their problems were insignificant when Gavin was hurt!
He was still breathing… Colin was waiting outside for the ambulance and Gavin hadn't lost all his colour. Tim focussed on breathing himself, trying to fight back the panic that kept rising.
Colin hurried in to let them know the ambulance had arrived and they headed out. He gasped and bit back a wail when the doors tried to shut too soon again, but someone put a hand on his arm.
"We'll take it from here, son."
It was a paramedic. He was pushed to the side as they took Gavin over to the ambulance. He didn't stay away though, hurrying over to stand nearby as they began to remove the harpoon from the door.
"We'll take him to A&E and get it out there."
"I'm coming." Tim said, feeling queasy now that he had nothing to do.
"Ok then, son. You sit in here with us." They sat him in the back with Gavin, and the paramedic made him lean forwards so that his head was between his knees. "Deep breaths for me."
Tim shut his eyes and took deep breaths. It was going to be alright. It was going to be alright….
The ride took far too long, but when they got there they were taken into a small room. It had a curtain for a door. Tim stared blankly at it, wordlessly accepting the drink that the paramedic pressed into his hand.
"There you go, kid. Don't worry. I'm sure your friend will be fine."
He tried to nod, but his muscles were too tense to accept the movement.
"Come on." The paramedic didn't head back out, but helped Tim raise the plastic cup to his lips. "He'll be fine. Breathe for me. Ok?"
"Yeah." He rasped out.
It felt like ages before Gavin got taken away to theatre, but the paramedic stayed with Tim. He sort of wanted to ask why the man hadn't gone back out to do his job, but he was incredibly grateful for the company.
They sat in those uncomfortable chairs for a while, until a nurse popped his head around the curtain to say Gavin was stitched up and they were just giving him a clean. Tim slumped down in relief, letting out a gentle laugh.
"Here. I'll get you a hot tea." The kind man stood up as Tim grinned. They just need to clean Gavin up and then he'd get to see him. Thank goodness… Tim's mind drifted back to that shower Gavin hadn't taken forever ago… It had only been that morning, when he had been going to go out and buy a screwdriver.
Tim wondered if they had gotten Rick out of the pool yet. He wasn't sure what he had done with the screwdriver he'd had earlier on.
"Here." The paramedic handed him another plastic cup. The liquid inside tasted fantastic as it hit all the right spots. "I've got to head back off now, son. You take care."
"Thank you so much." Tim grinned widely up at him. The man chuckled and headed out.
As if it was only five in the evening. It felt like it had been days since he had been sat with those young children in tumble tots.
Soon, they would be able to go home and have some tea. Then, they could curl up in front of the telly and watch something easy. He hoped Gavin's arm had recovered by his birthday; he'd bought him a computer console for it. He'd gotten his lover a Megadrive console with various games, including Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog. Gavin played on his Commodore 64 all the time, so Tim hoped this would go down well. It was expensive, but it was the man's twenty first.
He leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea, waiting for someone to lead him to Gavin.