#ralbert ralbert ralbert

ok so

i feel like this happens somewhere smaller than manhattan. borderline small town au. still in NY, just. not the city

albert moves to [insert random medium-small town name here] from [insert definitely smaller southern town here] (cause y’all can pry southern al from my cold, dead hands) just after the end of his sophomore year. literally the first week of june

and. he decides that if he has to be stuck Here he might as well do something with his time other than sit inside playing video games cause he doesn’t know anybody

and he got his lifeguard certification last summer cause he was always at the pool anyway

so. summer lifeguarding job. ta da

race is a competitive swimmer, but also just sorta a fish. he grew up in the water, he loves the water, he spends his entire summer in the pool, even if he’s not actually practicing. honestly a majority of the time he’s just fuckin around with his friends

this is how he first sees albert

albert stands out on a good day. 6’2, athletic, bright red hair, kinda stoic but a laugh that fills a room and a voice that carries for miles when he finally says something. put him on a lifeguard tower and that increases about tenfold

race doesn’t know there’s a new lifeguard until they switch but OH BOY DOES HE NOTICE

he falls into the pool

like there’s no other way to put it he sees albert walk out and gets so distracted he trips and tips into the pool

jack laughs his ass off

race spends the first week fawning over the new lifeguard and vehemently refusing to actually speak to him

“i can’t talk to HIM, are you kidding??? he’s probably straight anyway”

he’s not straight

albert pretends he doesn’t hear race’s very loud friends start teasing him every time he does. literally anything

albert also absolutely does not stop wearing a shirt for a reaction from the cute blond boy

no. nope. doesn’t do that. not at all. yea he does

there’s even a couple of girls bold enough to ask albert out and he. very kindly tells them no and “oh my god racer he turned them down then winked at you can you get your shit together and GO TALK TO HIM”

the second week consists of one jack kelly dragging race over to start conversations with albert before his watch starts

and he even lets albert keep calling him toni without correcting him cause he heard jack say it and honestly he doesn’t mind it that much coming from albert

by the end of week two race has lost all fear and is shamelessly flirting with cute lifeguard boy without having to be dragged along by jack

actually, jack doesn’t even bother tagging along anymore cause he doesn’t particularly want to watch his little (he’s like 18 months younger but OKAY) brother flirt

and then. there’s an actual swim meet. cause it’s summer and that’s when shit like this happens

i’m ngl i only know a little bit about swim meets from my cousins but. half of this is for plot convenience so just go with it

albert isn’t working, but he’s always been around the pool and swimming environment so. he goes to the meet cause Why Not

and, surprise surprise, his favorite regular is competing

he doesn’t get a chance to talk to him until after he competes (and wins, cause i said so) but. hhhhh

“you never told me you competed! you were great, toni”

“thank you! honestly i kinda forgot—”

and then. cause race and albert are standing suspiciously close together and race’s face has gone all pink and these two can never go very long without getting embarrassed

race’s teammates notice them <3

“ohhhhhh, who’s this, higgins?”

“i thought you hated being called toni?”

“damn, okay! i see you racer!”

race is fuckin mortified LMAO

albert thinks it’s funny. and he’s laughing when race grumbles and grabs his arm and drags him away from his “terrible, awful, good for nothing” teammates.

which makes race sigh and fight a smile cause how in the hell is he supposed to be annoyed around a laugh like that ???

“you don’t like being called ‘toni’, huh? don’t seem to mind when i do it”

“oh, shut up”

“i’m just saying! y’never told me to stop, either, darlin’”

and race stops dead cause he called him a pet name AND it had that stupid lil accent on it that made his heart stop functioning properly

and then he decides to say fuck it and just commit cause GOD he really wants to kiss him

“probably ‘cause i didn’t want you to stop. s’cute when you say it”

and his hand was already on albert’s arm, and now they’re even closer together and race doesn’t know this but albert is losing his shit internally cause THERE IS A CUTE BOY CALLING THINGS HE DOES CUTE AND STANDING VERY CLOSE OH MY GO—

and then one of them figures out what they’re doing and leans in. inconclusive who tbh but it happens

race’s teammates and friends try to ruin it by catcalling them but it doesn’t work cause albert just laughs against his lips and dips him for the Dramatics

now instead of flirting in the pool house before albert has to go out they just make out or smth idk don’t ask questions

they go on cheesy movie dates and they get ice cream and they hang out and talk in albert’s pickup he got as a present from his dad after they moved and. yeah <3

they get caught staring at eachother like. an embarrassing amount of times ngl

also those girls come back fully intending to ask albert out again but uh. he walks out to do his watch with his arm around race’s shoulder and kisses him before he switches so. their hopes die pretty quickly LMAO

and then august comes and they’re going back to school and they’re Stupid so they’re like !!! oh no i’m never gonna see you !!!

and then on the first day of school albert’s stupid pickup pulls into the parking lot and race almost falls over where he’s standing next to jack

long story short, albert almost gets tackled and race confuses his classmates with the fact he’s trying his nonexistent football skills on the new kid

and then albert kisses race and everyone that isn’t race’s friends gets a helluva lot MORE confused

they don’t even fuckin notice they’re too busy giggling to each other and being horrible and awful and adorable

yeah no they’re That couple and i hate them (obviously)

by the end of august everyone’s gotten used to them cause. it’s adjust or die they’re not gonna get any less ridiculous