The Lifeguard and The Olympian

Chapter 2: Katsuki Bakugou

Katsuki was a worldwide famous Olympic swimmer from Japan, but his career as an Olympian was cut and he was forced to retire due to a drunk driver hitting him while he was on his motorcycle a year ago. When he was in the hospital, he was told about the injuries he sustained in the accident. He was flung across the road but thankfully, aside from cuts, road burn and internal bruising, the only major injury was the shoulder. His shoulder was dislocated so severely that it required multiple surgeries and physio therapy.

When the doctors explained everything to him, he was told his career as an Olympic Swimmer was over but Katsuki couldn't accept that so he went on leave. He still had 3 years until the next winter Olympics and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to get his gold medal he'd been working so hard for. Katsuki had his surgeries, went to his physio and still swam every morning. His shoulder made swimming difficult and extremely painful but he needed to get past this. Katsuki moved closer to the hospital so that he could get to his physio appointments. He settled into his new apartment and found a gym with a swimming pool, he would get to the pool 2 hours before the gym closed to practice swimming and strengthen his shoulder so he could go back to what he was born to do.

Katsuki had woken up early due to the pain in his shoulder. He woke up and made himself some breakfast and sat at the table to read the morning paper. After washing the dishes, he glanced over at the clock '5:30am' Katsuki grunted 'should I just go back to sleep?' he thought to himself as the clocked ticked. He got dressed and grabbed his swim gear, throwing it in his gym bag. He grabbed his ball cap and mask, heading to the door he walked out and headed to the gym.

He walked into the pool change room and got on his swimwear, grabbing his goggles and swim cap he put them on and rinsed off his body. The pool was still and the room silent, 'This isn't so bad... Maybe I should come in the mornings instead...' he thought to himself as he walked over to the 2nd last lane and hopped in. He set up his waterproof watch to time him like he always did and started his laps. Katsuki's body was screaming at him but he kept swimming through his pain and decided to check his time from the first 10 laps.

"Fuck!" he yelled, slapping the water when he noticed his time wasn't getting better. He continued swimming, oblivious to the other swimmer who had joined in for a swim. Once he was done, he finally noticed the splashing noises and glanced over. 'When did this guy even get in here? How did I notice him?' he thought as he climbed out of the pool. 'He has good form... wonder who he is..' he looked once more as the man came up for air after his lap. For some reason the way the green haired man looked as he swam intrigued Katsuki.

After he finished showering and getting dressed, he wrote down his swim time and amount of laps in his physio notebook. He glanced at the time on his watch, noticing it was time for him to head to the hospital. He grabbed his mask and baseball cap, he grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. The man from the pool bumped into his shoulder as he opened the door. "Ahh! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying atten..." The green haired man trailed off as he looked up at Katsuki. Crimson eyes met green and Katsuki was captivated by the sparkling emerald eyes staring at him. The man was smaller but had a muscular build, his hair color matched his eyes and he had freckles all over his face and shoulders. Katsuki thought he was really beautiful for a man and realized he was staring, "Tch.. Move extra!" He exclaimed and the smaller man moved out of his way. Katsuki walked off 'How can a man be THAT beautiful and yet have such a manly body...?' he thought as he headed to the hospital.

At physio, Katsuki couldn't help but wince in pain. "DAMNIT! THAT FUCKING HURTS!" He yelled at the therapist. "I know Mr. Bakugou, but we're almost done. Just bare the pain a little longer" She responded, trying to cheer him through. After another 30 minutes, they were finally finished. The physiotherapist handed Katsuki some pain killers and inflammatory pills to take for the pain and swelling. "You've been overdoing it with the swimming Mr. Bakugou..." She said tossing him a water. "I told you, I will be in the next race Doc." he stated taking the pills and swishing them back with the water. "You start working as a lifeguard tomorrow... Do you think it's a good idea to work so publicly?" she asked sitting in a chair across from him.

Katsuki pulled the water bottle from his mouth and took a breath, "I gotta do something Doc, I'm tired of sitting at home all the time!" Katsuki started "My old coach is the owner of a beach and runs the lifeguard station there, he said he needed more people while we were meeting for coffee one morning so I offered to help out while I was in between training..." Katsuki trailed off. "I want to swim again Doc... I'm not going to stop until I get that gold metal.." He finished and glanced up at the Doctor.

She sat there and stared at the angry swimmer, with a long deep sigh, she grabbed her head "We have 2 years left, I'll do what I can to get you back to where you want to be..." she trailed off "BUT! Only if you continue my routine and don't over do it!" she exclaimed pointing her finger at Katsuki. "You are my favorite athlete. I want to watch you swim again and win the gold metal you deserve BUT I am also your Doctor Katsuki Bakugou. I need to make sure you're in top shape before I can let you compete..." She finished. Katsuki looked at her and smiled "You got a deal, Doc." He said holding out his hand.