Harringrove swimming/lifeguard headcanons.
- They constanty argue about who the better swimmer is and race everytime theyre in an open body of water together
- Billys technique is terrible. He can swim fast but Steve doesnt understand why. Hes got low elbows in his recovery, his catch is all messed up, his timing is always off.
- Billy *always* wins if theyre in an ocean(steve cant handle the currents as well) Steve *always* wins if its anything over 25m in a pool (Billy loses speed on the turns) and theyre pretty much 50/50 in all other water settings.
- Billy never did any proper swimming lessons. His Mom taught him the basics and then he picked other bits up along the way from talking to the surfera and swimmers on cali beaches.
- Steve loved swimming up until he was in the swim team and then he started to resent it because of all the 5am practise sessions.
- Steve primarily swum butterfly competitively because he heard it was the hardest and wanted to impress his dad. His dad was always away for his actual races so never saw him *really* swim
- Steve is the mean swimming teacher. He gives the older kids hard sets and has been heard telling kids to 'swim through it' if they complain about a stitch. He doesnt mean to be, but hes so used to competitive swimming that hes a dril sergeant when it comes to technique and will make the kids redo a set until its perfect.
-Alternatively Billy is such a supportive swim teacher that it freaks the whole party out. But he loves water, loves swimming and even Hawkins shitty public pool makes him think of his Mom teaching him to dive under waves and so he is *soft* with the kids.. (if they want to learn to swim. If they dick around too much he'll still snap at them.)
- because of their teaching methods Billy primarily teaches younger kids first learning to swim while Steve takes the older kids who already know a bit more
- They both go FERAL when teaching personal survival lessons. With their lifeguarding backgrounds they know too muxu about how easy it is to drown even for good swimmers so they go balls to wall on scenarios and teaching the kids how to save themselves if they need to.
- Billy almost drowned when he was a kid because he rescued a tourist who'd got pulled in by a rip and then tried to use Billy as a ladder to get their head above water. He insists that hes fine and it didnt bother him but every personal survival lesson will end in him teaching the kids how to break away from someone octopus hugging them.
- one time they try a 'hold your brearh contest' and only come up when Dustin and Max physically yank them out because theyre both too stubborn to lose and almost made themselves pass out.
- Steve teaches Billy how to do 'track start' dives and tumble turns. Bily teaches Steve to surf.
- Billy lesrns how to use his hand as a water pistol by cupping it half in half out of the water snd *constantly* sprays steve in the face while hes talking if theyre both in the pool.
- Billy bitches about the chlorine and chemicals when they swim in pools. Steve quite likes the smell but will complain about the seaweed and sand when theyre on actual beaches.
- Steves awful at staying still in the water. Hes got to be doing something. If theyre just trying to relax in the pool then he'll do lengths.
- Billy however would be happy to just float for hours.
- they make out a lot in the water idk