In the end, he didn't get to see if he could swim this way, nor practice his shifting in the water. But he did make a friend at the very least, so his trip wasn't totally useless. He had stayed at the lake for a little longer before heading back towards the school himself. He thought about going back to his room, but the time the swim team activities were about to start was close, so instead he just walked around a bit, trying to get familiar with the school.

About an hour later he was heading towards the swim team. He knew where the pool was at least, that was the first thing he went to when he got here after all. So that was easy to get too.

Once he was there he was a little overwhelmed at how many people showed up. And how few people he actually knew. He recognized red in the crowd and headed for her, but before he could get her attention he got stopped. A familiar face had stepped in front of him. He looked down at his old friend, Zake—a seahorse from Selachi.

"Hey you, long time no see!" he chirped. William looked down confused. "What are you doing here?" He asked if the last place he was expecting to see Zake was here at Caeleste.

"Same as you-" He said, "I'm here to join the swim team." William let out a laugh. "No I mean, What are you doing here at Caeleste?" He said back. "Same thing as you, dumbass-" He laughed. Was 'dumbass' really necessary? "Going to school." He finished. "Why didn't you tell me you were going here?" Williams asked, even though he knew the answer to that

"Well, we sort of lost connection for a while, I didn't know if we were still friends." He said with an awkward laugh. "Right-" William said, "I'm sorry about that." He said back. Zake reached up, touching William's hair softly. "What happened to your beautiful hair?" He suddenly asked

Zake and William had been friends for a long time. Ever since he can remember they had been hanging out. Zake was the type of person to care about his looks, while William really didn't. But at some point, Zake had convinced him to dye his hair to match Zake's, A thing his parents weren't happy with mostly because he ended up with all the colors of the rainbow instead of his usual grey.

William let out a laugh as Zake pulled his hand away again. "It grew out, I guess. There no way I'd be able to keep it like that by myself.." That's part of it, but the truth is his dad didn't like it so he dint have much of a choice. It was part of his 'deal'. Zake smiled as he leaned in closer. "I can fix it for you." He whispered. William leaned back a bit, a blush covering his face. "I- I think I like it this way-" William stuttered. "That's a shame, little pup." Zake leaned in even closer. That was a nickname he hadn't heard in a while. The last time was about six months ago and in a totally different context.

Okay, pull yourself together, you've changed since then, you just need to keep it up for now. 

William took a deep breath as he pushed Zake off him slightly. This could end badly if he let him continue. William looked around at all the other people around them as Zake took a step back. "Little pup needs a little more time I suppose, Sorry for that." Zake said as he was about to walk away.

Without realizing William had grabbed his arm, making it so he couldn't leave. "It's not like that I-" He stopped himself. Was this really a good idea? William took a breath and dragged Zake with him to the back of the storage building. This way no one could overhear them. "Sorry, there's just- a lot of people out there I-" William said. Zake smirked as he pushed William against the wall. "So you're okay with-" He flirted, looking up to William. He tried his best to not give in, but in the end, he wasn't strong enough. William took a breath before he leaned in, kissing Zake. He felt Zake smirk into the kiss as he kissed him back.

William suddenly pulled away again, turning away from zake frustrated. "Damn it, I was doing so well-" He complained. Zake looked up at him confused, grabbing his hand. "What do you mean?" He asked. William let out a sigh as he turned to look him in the eyes. "It's a long story- I'm sorry I stopped texting you it's just- that my dad wouldn't let me go here unless I 'cleaned up'." He said.

When he had first asked his parents if he could go to Caeleste Academy the answer was "Absolutely not". The school was expensive and they didn't think he would be able to take it seriously. All he did was go out pretty much every night and stay away until the next day. And he's pretty sure his parents knew where he was going, and what he was doing all night. So they made a deal with him. If he showed he could take school seriously, they'd let him go.

"Well, you're here now so?" Zake leaned in closer, a smirk on his face. "But I had such a good streak going," William said back. It's been about six months since the last time he had slept with anyone. And it just happened to be him. "Better luck next time," Zake said before he reconnected their lips.

At this point, William just let it happen. His parents weren't here anymore, he already fulfilled his part of the deal, and it was not like a kiss meant he was gonna fall back on his old way. No, this was fine. At least that's what he told himself as he kissed Zake back passionately. Zake pushed himself closer as he deepened the kiss.

William's hand traveled towards Zake's hip when he suddenly realized something was different. He pulled away confused, looking down. "Wh- where did your arm go?" He asked, surprised. No idea why he didn't notice this earlier, but Zak was missing part of his arm. He looked down at it confused as he waited for Zake to explain. "yeah it got eaten by a drunken prick who taught I was food." He explained.

"Eaten?!" William looked up at him. "How did that even happen?" He asked, wanting more information. But Zake wasn't interested in explaining right now. "Don't worry," He said as he brought his other hand up to William's face, "This one still works wonders." He smirked. William let out an awkward laugh, his face lighting up at the comment. "R-Right." He smiled.

Just as Zake was about to lean in again they were interrupted by a loud voice. Bruce had climbed on a table and was loudly telling everyone to gather around him, as he was about to explain the plans for today. Zake let out a sigh as he took a step back. "Well, that's unfortunate." He complained. William took a deep breath as he relaxed against the wall. "Yeah.." It was unfortunate, maybe. But Willaim was actually glad they were interrupted, this could gotten dangerous if they had continued. He pushed himself off the was, ready to head back when zake stopped him a final time. He placed a quick kiss again William's lips and she snuck a piece of paper into the rim of William's boxers. "Let's catch up some other time, little pup" He winked before walking off.