“Okay this is the shallow end,” Vex instructed, gesturing to one side of the pool. “Definitely best to start here as you’ll be able to stand up in the water.”

Ciel nodded and followed him, looking around the space curiously. It really was quite a beautiful pool. One side was comprised of the changing rooms but along the other side were huge sheets of glass and French windows looking out onto the academy gardens.

The two remaining walls surrounding it were living walls of flora and foliage, covered in orchids and carnivorous plants. Great bulbous pitchers hung down, their trumpets flushed with veins of scarlet on green whilst pit vipers slithered between the ferns, their sinuous hisses matching the gentle lapping of the water.

“Mind the tarantulas,” Vex noted, looking back and pointing to the floor.

Ciel carefully sidestepped out of the way of a dinner-plate sized spider that appeared to be dragging some sort of rodent back to its den.

“Does anything live in the pool?” Ciel asked, careful to keep his voice neutral. He knew all things that slithered and crawled were to be expected as standard in a demonic environment but he had honestly never quite settled around such fare.

Perhaps it was due to all the pranks that the other kids used to play on him at the orphanage. One time he had even found a bucketful of eels slopping around in his bed.

“No,” Vex shook his head, “the students kept eating them.”

“Oh!” Ciel whispered as he dipped his foot into the water. “It’s warm.”

“It’s nice right?” Vex grinned widely. “Sometimes Kane and I come here for a morning swim when it’s just too miserable outside for a run. Also Kane says the salt water makes his hair look good.”

Ciel laughed, taking another cautious step down the stairs. Once he was fully submerged he took a few moments just to swish the water this way and that with his fingers. It was strange to feel something other than air against the fin on his tail.

“Try coming a little deeper,” Vex said, taking a step backwards but still clearly able to touch the bottom.

“No,” Ciel said instinctively, shaking his head.

“I’m not actually going to let you drown,” Vex sighed.

“What if…” Ciel paused, his eyes flicking up to where the other students were emerging from the changing room in brightly coloured swimsuits. He lowered his voice, “What if my body does something strange? Because of the water.”

“What, like grow a merman tail?” Vex grinned. “Don’t you think you would have had some uncomfortable showers by now if that were the case?”

“I don’t know!” Ciel hissed irritably, but he took another step forwards all the same.

“Good,” Vex nodded. Ciel looked up to study the other man’s face to see if he was mocking him, but Vex simply looked pleased. “Right, now take my hands.”

“Are you crazy?” Ciel scoffed. “I need my hands to stay afloat.”

“Trust me,” Vex replied, “just hold my hands and kick out with your legs.”

“No,” Ciel repeated, this time more forcefully.

“God you’re difficult,” Vex rolled his eyes. “Okay fine, how about this, I’m going to hold you up by your stomach, you can keep your feet and hands free to swim.”

Ciel paused, holding a hand to his slightly swollen stomach.

“Shit,” Vex stated as his eyes flicked downwards and he obviously remembered what they had just seen. “Okay, maybe not your stomach, your chest okay?”

“Okay,” Ciel shrugged unsurely. Ciel edged forwards until the pool became too deep to walk. He tipped himself forwards, allowing Vex to stand close and hold him up.

Ciel took a deep breath as Vex’s large hands flattened across Ciel’s chest, the rough pads of his fingers just brushing Ciel’s nipples and the warmth of his palms seeping into Ciel’s skin.

“Don’t you dare let go,” Ciel warned. “I’m serious Vex, if you let go I won’t come to the islands, I’ll – I’ll –“

“Jeez, calm down,” Vex laughed, “You’re pricklier than a sea urchin. How about you try channelling your ridiculous stress levels into moving forwards instead?”

“But if we go forwards you’ll have to swim too,” Ciel stated unsurely.

“I can tread water and hold you up at the same time,” Vex huffed as if Ciel’s doubt was personally insulting.

Ciel pushed out with his hands, hating how stupid he felt as the other students entered the pool and immediately began swimming confident laps.

“You’re doing great,” Vex nodded, beginning to give Ciel tips on different strokes and how to breathe. After about twenty minutes of practice Ciel finally felt ready to try a length on his own.

“I’ll wait at the other end,” Vex explained, swimming to the far side of the pool where the water was deepest.

Ciel winced as he rubbed at his lower back, it was still twinging and smarting but he was determined to do at least one length unaided. It felt utterly ridiculous, but he wanted to hear Vex praise him again, the other demon was sounding so uncharacteristically patient and enthusiastic.

It half made Ciel wonder what Vex would be like around a child, teaching them to ride a bike for the first time perhaps? Ciel huffed at his own foolishness, he couldn’t afford to indulge in such daydreams that would never come to fruition. This, right here, was the most of Vex Dubois that he would ever be entitled to.

All the same, Ciel pushed determinedly forwards, holding his head above the salty water as he began the modified breast stroke.

He managed to make it to about half way when panic set in, his back was really aching now but there was just as much water behind him as in front of him.

Ciel gasped for breath as he turned to the side and wondered if he could cut across the pool instead. He twisted his body but before he could fully make a decision, strong arms were hoisting Ciel upwards.

“Hey – I’m here,” Vex said quickly, his voice was out of breath as if he just swum very fast to get there. “Stop kicking, just relax against me, I’ve got you.”

Ciel let his body calm down, allowing himself to lean forwards against the wet warmth of Vex’s chest.

Ciel’s cheek rested against Vex’s collar bone as he let out a small, probably pathetic sounding cough. A moment later Vex carefully pulled him over to the side of the pool and hauled them both out of the water.

“You okay?” Vex asked. Ciel noticed that the other man’s hand was on his back, rubbing comforting circles across his wet shirt.

“Yeah,” Ciel croaked, he felt too ashamed to actually look at Vex.

“That was on me,” Vex sighed, sounding annoyed, “I pushed you too hard. Considering you’ve never swum before that was honestly amazing.”

“Oh sure,” Ciel coughed hoarsely, “an aquatic demon who can’t even swim a length – truly amazing.”

“Do you ever stop?” Vex let out a surprised laugh. “Seriously Ciel, just give yourself, and everyone else a break sometimes okay? You did well.”

Ciel glanced over at the other man. Vex’s eyes were closed as he lay on his back on the pool side, face turned up to the glass roof where the sun was just peeking through the scrambled clouds.  

“Who taught you to swim?” Ciel asked curiously, frowning as his spindly tail attempted to dive back into the warm water of the pool.

“I can’t really remember,” Vex scrunched up his face in thought. “I guess I had lessons and I recall swimming with Kane and his brothers. I like the water though.”  

“Do you…have siblings?” Ciel asked unsurely, realising he honestly knew very little about Vex’s family.

“No legitimate ones,” Vex shrugged. “My mother died when I was an infant and my father never bothered remarrying.”

“I’m sorry,” Ciel replied awkwardly, he couldn’t imagine only having Solomon Dubois for a parent. At least for the most part, Mrs. Cruxa had been irksome rather than terrifying. Ciel chewed on his lip, “You told your father that you would apprentice under him – what does he do?”

Vex snorted and turned to Ciel, squinting in the now few rays of sunlight filtering down from above. “That man’s got claws in all the pies,” Vex explained, “but honestly, it’s mostly finance. That’s the path he wants me to go down.”

“For the demonic duelling side of your degree - aren’t you minoring in runic carving?” Ciel asked, having noticed the books slumped up across Vex’s desk over the last month.

“Yeah,” Vex nodded, “but to be honest it didn’t really matter what I minored in, my path is set. At least I can study something I actually enjoy for a little while.”

“What if you told your father you wanted to be a carver?” Ciel asked with interest.

“A carver?!” Vex let out a harsh laugh. “Please, like any Dubois would engage in such menial labour for a career.”

Ciel stiffened before taking a calming breath, “I know you’re just saying that,” Ciel replied carefully. “Your runic wristbands for fighting – you carved them yourself didn’t you? The plans are in your drawer and –“

“Why the fuck are you looking through my stuff?” Vex snapped.

“I was searching for a pen,” Ciel replied coldly. The laughing, complimenting Vex of a few minutes ago was clearly gone, replaced by the trademark Dubois sneer that Ciel remembered from their early encounters.

“Adding to your stalker shrine?” Vex enquired mockingly.

“Why are you acting like this?” Ciel asked, standing up, his tail wrenched forlornly from the water only to curl around his upper thigh, the coils rucking up the fabric of his swim trunks.

Vex remained silent, looking away from him with a tight jaw. Ciel tried to huff but the saltwater still coating his throat forced out a cough instead.

“Are you –“ Vex began but Ciel was already walking away and into the changing rooms. He made his way towards his bag, opening the zip to pull out some dry clothes before shucking off his sodden shirt with a grimace, the fabric half felt like it was stuck painfully to him.

“Did you get in the pool with that?!”

Ciel jerked round in shock to see some other students changing on the far side. One of them, Ciel noticed with a sinking heart, was Kieran Ng.

The person that had spoken however was the same amethyst haired demon Ciel had seen Vex with in the South Library that day. Their emerald eyes were narrowed, flicking up and down Ciel’s torso.

“It’s just a clean shirt,” Ciel mumbled back, flushing.

“I meant your skin condition,” they retorted. “If that’s contagious we’ll have to drain the entire pool.”

“It’s not!” Ciel protested angrily. “I just have problem patches due to my demonic type.” The other demon pulled a disgusted expression whilst Ciel noticed that his skin was only starting to feel tighter and itchier than normal.

“Leave it Suli,” Kieran drawled, “he’ll probably try to claw your eyes out like he did to me.”

“I’m not trying to be unkind,” Suli sighed, folding their arms over their chest, “I’m genuinely concerned about hygiene.”

Ciel felt tears of humiliation prick the back of his eyes. His body was flushing hot and taut and the friction of his tail against the skin of his thigh was hurting more than normal or perhaps he was just squeezing even tighter than usual.   

“And don’t worry Kieran, this isn’t the first time I’ve met him – you should have heard the way he talked to Vex in the library,” Suli added. Ciel heard the word ‘nutjob’ whispered loudly as the friends exchanged nods and murmurs, glancing suspiciously over at him.

“Alright I’m here!” a loud voice announced as a further demon burst into the changing rooms with a beaming smile. Ciel recognised him as Bracks, one of Vex’s friends. “And look who I found lounging by the pool on his lonesome,” Bracks grinned as Vex appeared beside him looking uncharacteristically stiff.

Ciel stared down at his feet before turning round and hurrying to try and change. He didn’t even bother to take off his swimming trunks, certainly not in front of all these people.

Besides, something felt wrong on his body, like he was covered in some sort of quick drying plaster that was stretching him out.

All Ciel wanted was to get back to the Lethe Wing and Vex’s quarters as quickly as possible where he could just lock himself in the bathroom and apply some oils.

“Vex!” Kieran’s voice called out enthusiastically. “Look, Forbidden Fruit sent me some swimwear. You said you were interested in that range.”

Ciel couldn’t help but peek round curiously as Kieran dropped his towel to reveal tight red swimming trunks, the back of which were laced together with a thick strip of skin showing, along with leaving plenty of room for Kieran’s polished, barbed tail.

“I know you liked their lingerie on me last night,” Kieran laughed as Ciel froze. It didn’t exactly come as a shock that Vex was out spending his nights having that kind of fun, so why on earth did it hurt so much in Ciel’s chest?

“Excuse me,” Ciel stammered as he tried to push past Bracks to leave the changing rooms.

“Hey wait – oh!” Bracks grinned, “Vex is this why you’re here? You’re Ciel Rai right? I’m Bracks Calibano.”

“Okay,” Ciel nodded, not looking up, he knew he was being rude but right now he just wanted out.

“Ciel, what’s wrong?” Vex’s voice asked, low and almost whispered.

Ciel chewed the inside of his cheek, “I just – I need to go.” Ciel knew he had a fresh pot of jasmine ointment in the bathroom cupboard and for some reason his skin was starting to burn.

“Oh my god he’s bleeding!” Suli announced in horror, “I said allowing him near the pool was a health hazard.”

“B-Bleeding?” Ciel repeated in a panicked voice, he looked down to see diluted red droplets splattered in a trail across the changing room floor tiles where he had been.

Immediately Ciel gasped in horror, dropping his bags and his hands flying to his gently curved stomach.