Chapter Text
Twelve sets of dead lifts followed by another set of squats, an extra ten kilograms on the bar. Then he’ll get Kyuhyun to spot him for the chest pump before going to the bicep curl. This week he thought about increasing his weights.
Changmin laid down on the bench and gripped the long bar and took in a deep breath. He always had to remind himself to breathe steadily and regularly.
Kyuhyun leaned over the bar and jiggled his eyebrows to indicate that he was ready to spot and Changmin tightened his grip and lifted. Around him other gym members talked quietly and Changmin could also hear the clinking sounds of metal and the pop music that was playing through the speakers and on the television screens.
Minho came into his peripheral vision, mouth twisted with nervousness.
Changmin grit his teeth as he pushed the bar up, then lowered it down. “What’s the matter?” Kyuhyun asked Minho. Then he gave Minho a knowing look, belatedly understanding. “Is it that guy?”
Changmin was listening but he was trying hard not to get distracted. The bar was heavy and took most of his concentration and all of his energy. “Why don’t you just go talk to him?” Changmin practically snapped, words gritted out through clenched teeth. He was impatient with Minho’s constant dilly-dallying over some guy he hadn’t even met.
Changmin, Kyuhyun, Minho and Ryeowook all hung out at the same gym together, an expensive place that they could barely afford but felt necessary in their otherwise hardworking lives. For two months now Minho had watched one particular gym-goer from afar, sighing and mooning at him from across the room. The man - who none of them knew the name of so Kyuhyun had named him ‘Gunarms’– was, in Changmin’s own quiet, unsaid opinion, tall, muscular and very, very handsome.
“Yeah, I will,” Minho answered Changmin, eyes shifty.
Changmin rolled his own eyes. They’d already been through this a number of times. He grunted, pushing the bar up with difficulty; his muscles burned to the point of almost-collapse, his limbs screaming at him to stop. He kept going, wanting his muscles to rip in order for them to repair and get larger. He wanted to have bigger shoulders and arms – had wanted it since he was a teenager – but a small part of him knew he had been trying extra hard lately... in the last two months especially.
“How many more have I got to go?” he grunted at Kyuhyun.
“What? Oh. Um, I lost count.”
Changmin grunted in annoyance and aimed to place the bar on its holder, Kyuhyun’s hands shooting out to help him. He slowly sat up, grabbed his towel and wiped his face.
Kyuhyun was watching the man across the room surreptitiously. Changmin too snuck a look while his towel was pressed to his mouth.
Today the object of Minho’s affection was wearing a white sports singlet top and a pair of plain knee-length basketball shorts. His hair was naturally styled and messy and he was smiling wide as he spoke to a gym-mate, skin crinkling at the corners of his eyes. His friend said something and Gunarms threw his head back and barked out a laugh loud enough for Changmin to hear him across the crowded gym floor.
He really did have nice arms.
As far as Changmin was aware the guy didn’t even know Changmin even existed. Not that it would matter; one of his best friends had a crush on him and that was enough of a reason for Changmin to stay away.
“You should talk to him today,” Changmin told Minho as he tore his eyes away and reached for his water bottle. “Just go over and say hi.”
Minho fidgeted. “I can’t now, he’s talking to someone.”
Kyuhyun snorted and went to go on the nearest ab curl machine. Changmin gulped water from his water bottle and gave Minho a look that was half shrewd and half pitying. “Do you want me to go talk to him for you?” he asked kindly.
The look Minho gave Changmin was wide-eyed and exaggerated, shaking his head furiously. “No no no no no hyung please don’t. In fact,” – his mouth twisted uncertainly – “please don’t talk to him at all, please.”
Changmin blinked up at him.
Minho looked genuinely distressed as he twisted one finger in the grip of his other hand. “Please don’t even look at him, go near him – and definitely don’t smile at him.”
Changmin was too bewildered to come up with a scathing reply along the lines of, I’ll do what I please, thanks very much; instead he just stared at Minho, one eyebrow raising itself as Changmin only got more confused. “What – what?”
Minho shifted his weight to the other foot. “You can’t smile at him hyung, ‘cause when you smile your mouth goes all wide and your teeth are all straight and white and you show your gums and your eyes go cat-like and you look cute despite the fact that your eyes don’t even match. I mean, you should look retarded but you don’t, you look sweet and I’ve seen the way men look at you when you smile at them, like something in their eyes lights up. Oh god.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “Don’t smile at him, he’ll fall for you, I know he will.”
Changmin couldn’t help the blush that crept across his cheeks. He had never heard this kind of thing from Minho before and it was embarrassing to say the least. Minho was one of his best friends but he was also his ex boyfriend. They’d had a short-lived affair that had ended with a text message that had said, “Let’s be friends,” and then Changmin unexpectedly following through on that promise.
But mostly he was embarrassed to hear it because no one had ever told him this before.
He’d always thought he was kind of weird looking. Not ugly per se, but just plain odd.
*
That was the frustrating thing about Minho – social and easy-going but when he liked someone, he went in on himself, all shy.
It was a normal occurrence how he and Changmin had met: in the club, drunk, bathroom make-out before taking it back to Changmin's flat. Followed by Changmin trying to be adventurous with licking jam off Minho's nipples and Minho trying get Changmin to top him, only to cry out in pain when Changmin tried, and in the end they’d ended up a sticky mess, and not in that post-orgasmic way, either.
Lying on the bed, naked, cocks going flacid, they both looked at each other at the same time -
Then burst out laughing.
(They had been laughing so loud they'd woken Kyuhyun up, the other man pounding his fist and shouting though the bedroom wall to shut the fuck up.)
Changmin and Minho were fast friends after that, even going so far as to allow Minho to move in with him in his room in order to save on rent.
With Kyuhyun and Ryeowook that made four young men squashed into a two bedroom apartment in the middle of Seoul.
While Changmin loved Minho in his own platonic way, the way Minho spent two months mooning over some guy in a gym he had never met before set his teeth on edge. “Just talk to him!” he'd snapped once, causing Minho to glare at Changmin with hurt in his eyes, before slinking off, tail between his legs.
Despite Changmin's impatience he would stick to his word and not talk to the object of Minho's desire. The universe had other ideas, however.
They'd gone onto the gym floor and to the treadmills for their five-minute cardio warm-up before they’d hit the weights. Changmin started with an easy walk before realising he'd left his towel in his locker, and went to fetch it.
Only he'd left his keycard on the machine. Without it he couldn't open his locker – or the clear glass doors back into the room.
Banging on the glass door and waving frantically did nothing to get his friends' attention. Kyuhyun and Minho were chatting, Ryeowook had his earphones stuffed in his ears and they were all facing away from the doors.
He looked to the side of the room – and caught another man's eyes.
Changmin looked away immediately and thought about ignoring him or going back to reception to get a staff member or – but it was too late. That guy Minho had a crush on was already walking over, lips turned up into a polite yet amused smile. Up close like this, Changmin was able to note the exact shade of his dark brown hair, the scar below his left eye, (hot, thought Changmin, I like scars) and the beauty spot above his lip. The man caught Changmin's eyes – they looked at one another through the glass – and then he was pressing the button and the doors were sliding open.
“Thanks,” said Changmin, as he side-stepped past him into the room. He wasn't supposed to talk to him, but he had to thank him, it was good manners. He avoided his eyes.
“No problem,” said the other man, still with that small smile. His body language was friendly and open. “Um.” He hesitated. “What's your name?”
Touched, Changmin looked up and smiled. “Changmin,” he answered, before realising his mistake.
Minho had specifically asked him not to smile.
“And you?” Changmin asked, because he had to – there were social niceties that needed expressing – he couldn't not.
“Yunho,” said Yunho, eyes holding Changmin's with a kind of soft affection.
“Nice to meet you,” said Changmin, honest, bowing.
“And you,” said Yunho. “What do you do?”
Changmin, who had been about to walk away and hide among the machines, was caught off guard. The conversation had started awkward and had only gotten worse. It was hard enough for Changmin to socially interact with strangers on a good day; but this man was attractive, and showing interest – and Changmin didn't mean to be attracted to him but he was.
“What do I do?” Changmin blurted. “Uh. Odd jobs here and there,” he told him, which was true – he had about four part time jobs. It's just that saying 'odd jobs' made him sound unemployed. He blushed. “And you?”
“Uh,” Yunho hesitated. He glanced to the side and back again as if he were suddenly looking for an escape from the conversation. “I'm a lawyer.”
“Ok.” Changmin nodded, firmly aware that they were on complete different ends of the social scale. Changmin could imagine this glorious man in a suit during weekdays, probably on the tennis court on the weekends and having cocktails with clients and work associates on Friday nights.