Part I

Thor had spent his past three summers coaching the local swim team at an outdoor pool. The swimmers were mostly in middle school, but some were much younger and some older. None of them were thrilled that this was the way they were spending their summer afternoons.

Thor had only just finished getting them to go through the warmup drill on their first lesson when one of the kids splashed him viciously. Thor, who was standing at the edge of the pool in swim trunks, a t-shirt, and sandals, looked at the boy amiably for a moment. He smiled. "One-hundred fly."

Everyone groaned and gave the poor kid pointed glares. "Go!" Thor said encouragingly, and the first person in each lane shot off the wall and into the water.

Thor sat down in his chair and leaned back; any amount of butterfly stroke would take them a while. He whistled tunelessly, content in the sunshine. He heard a noise of derision from somewhere above him. Thor stopped whistling and looked up.

His team was apparently placed right next to one of the lifeguards. A man was looking down at Thor from his red lifeguard seat several meters above him. Thor grinned. "Hello!" he called.

The man clearly decided that he was not going to dignify that with an answer. He adjusted his fashionable sunglasses and looked back out at the water. He was pale, shockingly so, and Thor supposed it was a good thing that the lifeguard chair had an overhang, or else he would have been burnt to a crisp a long time ago. He had jet black hair that was slicked back to where it curled slightly just below his ears.

"Is it boring, sitting up there?" Thor called.

The man clearly glared at him, even though Thor couldn't see his eyes. "You don't need to yell."

"I wasn't," Thor said, though he kept his voice a little closer to his normal speaking voice. "Is it?"

"You shouldn't distract a lifeguard," the man said, his voice floating down to Thor.

Thor supposed he couldn't really argue with that. He shrugged and looked back at his swimmers. They weren't even halfway done yet. He resumed whistling and heard the lifeguard make another noise of irritation.

Thor smiled and didn't stop.

The next time Thor noticed the lifeguard, it was because his swimmers pointed him out to him. They were at their fourth practice, and Thor was trying to explain the next set to them when some of the kids started giggling. Thor finally gave up. "What is it?" he asked, and one of the children pointed behind him.

"That guy thought the lifeguard was a girl!" one of the girls shrieked, and Thor turned around to see the same lifeguard from earlier looking absolutely livid. He was yelling at a man in board shorts who looked very apologetic and was clearly trying to escape. The lifeguard looked as though he had just arrived at his shift. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that clung to his thin frame, and he had a coffee in one hand. Thor wasn't sure he agreed with the children; he would have made excuses too if someone he had hit on had reacted in that way. Thor watched with amusement as the lifeguard finally finished berating the man and, with a huff, turned around and resumed walking towards his station.

Thor turned back to the children and looked at them expectantly. "Are you all ready to start?"

The children hastily got ready. When they had all started swimming, Thor looked up at the lifeguard. He was drinking his coffee and staring out at the water with his sunglasses firmly in place on his nose. Though it had seemed funny a few minutes ago, Thor felt kind of bad for him. He must be having a really bad day to get that upset.

After practice ended, Thor walked past the trashcan by the lifeguard's chair and noticed a coffee cup perched on top. He picked it up curiously. Scrawled in the barista's handwriting, in block letters, was the name Loki.

"I'm Thor," Thor called up to the lifeguard at one point.

The lifeguard looked at him for a moment, his expression unreadable behind his sunglasses. "Loki," he said finally, and then looked back out at the water. Thor grinned.

One day, Thor was watching Loki subtly out of the corner of his eye while the team swam an eight-lap set. Loki was sitting as he usually did, staring straight ahead with one leg crossed over the other, as though he couldn't care less about anyone on the ground below him. There was suddenly a shift in his demeanor, though, and he leaned forward. Thor's full attention swung onto Loki, and he didn't bother to hide that he was looking straight at him. Loki clearly wasn't about to notice. Suddenly, Loki stood up, pulled his whistle to his mouth, and blew it three times. He went down the ladder so fast Thor wasn't sure what he watching. Loki yelled, "Lifeguard going in!", toed off his sandals, and dove into the pool.

Everyone had stopped swimming. Many were gawking at Loki, but after some yelling from the other lifeguards they all quickly got out of the way. Thor stared open-mouthed as he tracked what was only a blur through the water. His eyes snapped up to the area of the pool that Loki was headed towards. It was part of the recreational section, an area that was not separated into lane lines, and Loki seemed to be swimming towards three kids who were playing near the center of the pool.

Wait. Hadn't there been four kids there before?

"What's so interesting?" asked one of the kids in Thor's team. Thor didn't even look at him.

Loki was racing across the width of the pool at a steady crawl. When he reached the children, he wasted no time in diving under the water. When he came up, he had a child in his arms. Luckily, the child came up spluttering, and Loki held it in his arms while it coughed up the water it had inhaled. Thor couldn't hear from that distance, but it was clear that Loki was talking angrily to the three other children.

Well. Talking was a gentle term.

The child in his arms started crying, and a small herd of concerned parents came over to the group. One of them took the child from Loki's arms. With what could have been only the briefest exchange of words, Loki turned and began to swim steadily back to his post. His strokes were much slower than they had been, but Loki clearly wasn't swimming for the joy of it. When he got to the side of the pool, he pushed his hair out of his face and pulled himself out of the water. He didn't so much as glance at Thor, but Thor got a good look at his face; it was stony and expressionless, except for a slight downward slant of his dark eyebrows. He went directly to the base of his lifeguard chair and picked up a towel he had left there. No one said a single to word to him, not while he dried himself off, and not before he disappeared into the showers. Thor looked over at where the children had been. Their parents had taken them all out of the pool and were nowhere to be seen.

"Coach Thor?" one of the children asked.

Thor looked down and realized that the team had finished the set and were patiently waiting for him. "Two-hundred backstroke," he said, and watched carefully as they each launched themselves into the water in turn.

Still, Thor noticed when Loki came back to his post. His shift was nearly over anyway, so he took his things down from the chair and began to pack them into a bag. Thor went over to him. "That was a good thing you did," he told him.

Loki looked up at him. His sunglasses were pushed up on his hair, so Thor could see that he had pale green eyes. He straightened and looked at Thor warily. "Thanks," he said, though he said it as though he wasn't sure that Thor was being sincere.

"I'm sure that kid's parents are very grateful."

Loki's mouth quirked slightly. "I take it you've been watching your team closely."

Thor snorted. "They already know what they're doing. They can fend for themselves for a few minutes." There was a moment of silence as Loki seemed to be waiting for Thor to say something. "See you later?" Thor said finally.

Loki met his eyes and smiled slightly. He dropped his sunglasses down onto his nose and gave Thor a mock salute. "Until then."

Thor walked him walk away. If there was one thing to say about Loki, it was that he knew how to make an exit. His hips certainly did not lie.

The next day, Thor brought two coffees to practice. He walked to the base of Loki's chair and looked up at him. Loki pushed up his sunglasses and leaned over curiously. "I have coffee," Thor called up to him, and held up the extra cup as proof.

"What kind?" Loki asked.

Thor glanced at the cup. "Uh, a mocha."

Loki sat back. "I don't like mochas."

"Oh." Thor shrugged and put it down on the ground. Loki could still have it if he changed his mind.

Once most of his team had arrived, he glanced over at where he had left the coffee. It was definitely not there, and Loki seemed to be sipping something that looked suspiciously familiar.

Thor grinned and turned back to his team.

As they got closer to their first meet, Thor asked the team to stay for a particularly long practice. When Loki got off of his shift, he leaned against the base of his chair, his attention seemingly entirely occupied by his cellphone. He kept an eye on Thor, though, and he noticed when Thor's cellphone stared ringing.

Thor paused in giving out the next set and pulled out his phone. He frowned at the screen and the kids began talking amongst themselves. Thor glanced at Loki. "Hey, Loki, would you mind watching them for a sec? I need to take this." Loki blinked at him, but Thor didn't give him time to reply before he answered his phone and said, "Hello? Mom?" He turned away from Loki and began to wander away from the pool.

The kids looked at Loki. Loki looked at the kids. He slipped his phone in his pocket and stood in front of them. "Well?" he asked them.

The kids looked at him with trepidation on their faces. "Two-hundred free?" one of them squeaked.

Loki considered this. "Go." With relieved looks, the kids shot out into the water. Loki perched himself on one of the diving blocks and opened his phone back up. If one of them started to drown, one of the lifeguards on duty would notice.

By the time the last of the kids had drifted back into the wall, Thor still wasn't back yet. Loki glanced over his shoulder and saw him talking on the phone some distance away. He looked worried and tense. Loki closed his phone and looked back at the kids. "Two-hundred breaststroke," he told them. That should keep them occupied for a while. All the kids perked up. At this rate, practice would over over in no time.

Loki watched them swim. If Thor was going to be gone, he supposed he might as well keep track of the things they needed to improve.

Thor was still on the phone when they finished that set, too. Loki frowned. The kids were completely relaxed now, laughing amongst themselves. What should they do now? What was Thor's favorite stroke, again? Oh, yes . . . Loki smiled viciously. "Two-hundred butterfly."

The kids abruptly stopped smiling. One of the smaller girls in the corner looked like she was going to cry.

"But it's almost the end of practice," one of the children piped up. "We have, like, five minutes."

"Then you'd better make it fast," said Loki. He smiled. No more easy substitute coach. That would correct any ideas they had about being able to take advantage of the situation.

They had barely started the set when Loki heard approaching footsteps. Thor stopped next to him and looked at the swimmers, who were frantically swimming laps of butterfly. "Yes, they need to practice that one," he said, and smiled at Loki, clearly oblivious to how much his swimmers probably hated them both at that moment. "Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it." He clapped Loki on the shoulder, nearly knocking him into the water.

Loki nodded briefly and stood up. "Something important?"

Thor hesitated. "Yeah. My dad had a stroke." He glanced down at the ground. "He's in the hospital."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Loki said, and was surprised to find that he was completely sincere.

Thor shrugged. "Thanks." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked into the distance. He sighed. "It's not the first time. He's okay for right now, at least." He smiled at Loki, though it wasn't quite his usual, happy grin. "Anything I can get you to thank you? Maybe a coffee . . . ?"

Loki shook his head and turned away before Thor could see his expression. He shoved his phone in his pocket and began to walk away. "You already got me a coffee, remember?" he called over his shoulder.

"That doesn't count!" Thor shouted after him.

Loki laughed and didn't look back.

The next time Thor kept his swimmers late, Loki didn't bother to wait around. As soon as his shift was over, he stripped off his shirt and sunglasses and dropped them by his towel. Thor was in the middle of correcting his swimmers' backstroke technique when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He did a double-take and gaped at Loki as he dove smoothly into the water. He resurfaced almost halfway down the lane and began doing an even crawl toward the other end.

"Coach Thor?" asked one of his swimmers.

"Right," said Thor, and tried very, very hard to ignore the person swimming laps exactly one lane away.

When practice ended, Loki was still swimming lazily in the pool. Thor said goodbye to all his swimmers, and then he walked over to Loki and looked down at him. Loki stopped swimming a few feet out from the wall and treaded water. He pushed some wet, jet-black hair out of his face. "I'll race you," Loki said.

Thor laughed. "Really?" Loki just looked at him expectantly. Thor always wore his swim trunks to practice, so he stripped off his shirt and dropped it on the ground. He jumped in feet-first and came up grinning. He hadn't been in the water in a long time. Loki gave him a displeased look; Thor's jump had splashed him. Thor ignored his expression and tied his hair back into a quick ponytail. "Freestyle, there and back?"

"Sounds fair."

"You ready?"

Loki braced himself with his feet and one hand on the wall on one side of the lane, and Thor took the other.

"Go," said Loki, and they both dove forward.

They were neck and neck for the first length of the pool. It was on the flip-turn that Loki took a slight advantage. Thor put on an extra burst of speed, and was sure that he had Loki regardless. There was no way someone that slight of frame could be that fast, Thor thought. The wall was right in front of them, and Thor reached out to touch it. Loki's hand slapped the wall a split-second before Thor's did.

Thor came out of the water with a deep breath of air. Loki smirked. Thor frowned in frustration, but Loki looked so thrilled and so beautiful, Thor couldn't help smiling. "Well won," he told Loki. "You were a worthy opponent, but if you aren't careful, I will beat next you time."

A smile teased at the corner of Loki's mouth, and Thor suddenly realized how close they were. Loki's lips were slightly blue from the chill of the water, but as they parted to take a breath, Thor saw the slight flicker of tongue on white teeth. Loki's eyes were like pieces of clear green glass with shards of emerald in their depths, and when Thor met his gaze, Loki didn't even blink. On impulse, Thor leaned forward.

Loki laughed and turned away, sliding just out of Thor's reach before he could kiss him. "I am very careful." He caught the edge of the wall and pulled himself out of the pool, water dripping off his hair and sliding down his skin. He had a tattoo between his shoulder blades of a fish – a salmon, twisting in midair as it leapt to some unseen destination. As his skin slid along his spine, the fish seemed to move across his back. Underneath the tattoo were written the words:

If you can catch me, you can have me.

Author's note: In Norse mythology, Loki escapes captivity at one point by turning in a salmon. However, the other gods (including Thor) manage to catch him in a net and imprison him again.

Special thanks to bridgekeeper on Tumblr for helping me out with Loki's procedure as a lifeguard!