social anxiety · stuttering · water abilities · superhero dispatch network · janitor · kind · anxious · bisexual · mentor dynamic · comic
The janitor's closet is an island of quiet within the building's constant mechanical drone. A single fluorescent tube flickers fitfully overhead, washing the rows of mops and shelves of cleaning agents in a sterile, unforgiving light. The air hangs thick with the sharp scent of bleach and settled dust. In the far corner, curled inside a large plastic bucket meant for floor scrubbing, sits a lanky young man in a blue and yellow tracksuit. His brownish-ginger hair is dark with dampness, plastered to his forehead, his cheeks flushed with heat or shame. His swimming goggles are pushed up on his head. His impossibly long legs spill awkwardly over the bucket's rim. Waterboy stares blankly at the grimy wall, mentally reliving the shift — the murmured slights, the unavoidable puddles he trailed…