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It had been a long day and Herman was exhausted to say the least. Long might’ve been an understatement now that he thought about it, I mean who was he kidding. Herm had screwed up nearly everything he was sent on. He rested his head on shaky palms, sitting in that stupid bucket in the stupid janitorial closet. After that the day had trudged on all too slow. There was the thing about Herman, at least the z-team didn’t hate him anymore, but he never felt accepted or like he had a place there. I mean sure on rough days every bone in his body told him that he should quit and just go home to his grandma.
’At least I’d be wanted there.’
The thought lingered far too long, tears beginning to well. The closet felt suffocating, cramped, his nose burned from the smell of cleaning products. He needed somewhere to think, or well, to not think. He forced himself up out of the bucket with a pathetic huff, water sloshing around over the edge leaving a small puddle.
’Fuck.’
Had he dripped that much? Herm was an idiot really. Could barely control his powers. I mean what use were they- was he to the team anyways? His thoughts dragged him down like weights as he desperately kept the floodgates shut. He stumbled over to the in facility pool, dripping a pitiful trail of water behind him.
’No one even uses it anyways, just need to stop this feeling.’
He trudged over to the pools edge not bothering to use the steps, dropping in with another sad noise. He let himself sink to the bottom feeling the rough pool floor on his back and fingertips. He could relax a little maybe. He shut his eyes and ran his hands across the floor, feeling the bumps and pushing out all the thoughts that were stinging his brain, no more words that felt like knives, no more useless feelings, just silence.
’Maybe I’ll be okay’
He curled, bringing his knees to his chest for a bit before letting his limbs spread out in the water limply.
’long awkward useless’
He shoved the thoughts away again just letting himself be. It was quiet, soft, maybe, just maybe, everything was fine. He allowed himself to relax a little. It was after hours and he had all the time in the world. Or until a hand reached in latching onto his wetsuit and pulling him up roughly.
“Fuck. Fuck. What the hell bitch?!”
A hand tapped his cheek somewhat roughly, forcing him to open his eyes the blinding overhead lights gave him a bit of a headache, shadowing out the muscular figure standing over him
“Hey- fucking look at me Waterbitch”
Herman squinted though the voice was unmistakable for who it belonged to, pissed or not.
“Wh- fl- Flambae?”
He squinted as Chad’s face came into focus. He looked pissed- no, concerned.
“No shit. What the hell were you doing?”
Relief flashed over Chads face - probably realizing Herm wasn’t in fact dead or dying
Snap snap
“Huh? Oh, s-sorry”
’Stupid. Zoned out again. It’s not that hard to focus. Idiot.’
“Should be”
Chad muttered
“Now, what. Were. You. Doing.”
He enunciated like the answer was the only thing that mattered in the moment. Was it?
“It. Um. Not what it l-looks like?”
The man in front of Herm scoffed, not believing it for a second. He sounded cynical even.
“Really? Cause it looked like your flat ass was drowning.”
’Oh.’
Herm realized
‘Oh.’
Right. Chad didn’t know the full extent of his powers. To any passerby it probably looked like he was drowning. To Chad it probably looked like that.
Shit.
“N-no I- breathe. Can breathe under the- underwater- in. In the water.”
Chad made a noise. A hum of acknowledgment as he processed Herman’s statement.
“Mm. You lying?”
“W-what? No.”
“Alright”
There was a short pause of silence, just barely tense, where neither man spoke.
“Don’t do that shit again, alright wet wipe boy?”
Sincere.
Since when was Chad sincere? It was almost startling seeing the man who bullied him look so conflicted. So.. worried. And what for? For Herman. He was worried about Herman. Something in his gut twisted at that. It wasn’t unpleasant, more like butterflies. Huh.
Chad stood up with a grunt offering a hand to help the other up.
“Fucker scared the shit out of me”
Chad muttered under his breath again.
The walk out of the pool room was mostly silent, though the stopped at the door, more Chad’s doing than Herm’s.
“You uh..”
He sounded hesitant like he was looking for the right words. Made sense. Chad was the last person he expected a heart to heart from, let alone more than a glance and a mean comment.
“Look. Just talk to someone if you feel like that shit huh? Find Robert or something. He tolerates your ass enough so.”
“Y- alright.”
It wasn’t much. Just a strongly worded suggestion, but the push behind it, the motivation behind Chads words. He cared. And that was enough.