Chapter Text
Pedri felt guilty for bailing on Ferran at the gym, there had been an emergency at work and he was stuck longer than expected at the hospital.
However, everything seemed to work out since Ferran, ever the social butterfly, had found a buddy while climbing on Monday. Who was now waiting for them at the climbing gym, because they were going to climb together.
Pedri was very different from Ferran. He didn’t like going out, he didn’t like partying, he didn’t like making friends. He was perfectly content with the group he had, meeting new people always stressed him out.
So adding a new guy into their climbing rotation had him shaking. Especially because the guy competes professionally. He was going to look like a dunce next to this man.
“What’d you say his name was again?” He asks in the car, glancing around for a spot to park.
“Gavi, he’s super nice, I think you’ll like him!” He’s grinning while texting someone on his phone. “He says he’s inside warming up on the auto-belays.”
He nods his head as he finally stops his car, getting out and swinging his green gym bag over his shoulder. Ferran leads them into the building where they scan in and head to the locker rooms to put their stuff down.
“Stop freaking out, he’s nice.” He says as their shoulders bump against each other.
Maybe. But it isn’t really a matter of liking. It’s the fact that they have to go climbing with him, a professional. He’s going to watch Pedri make a million mistakes, watch him lose his grip, and struggle against gravity when the wall curves. He was going to see him all sweaty and smelly and disgusting. And he was going to have to belay this guy or be belayed by this guy, at some point. His life is in his hands. That’s terrifying to think about.
Ferran is fastening his harness after shoving his bag in an open locker. “Plus, he’s cute, so you’ll really like him.”
He rolls his eyes, “Fuck off.” Ever since he came out to the older man, he’s been pushing him at every half-good-looking guy they meet. Pedri’s grateful that he’s so supportive, but sometimes it’s just annoying.
Plus, their definitions of attractive are very different.
After all their things are safely locked up, harness on, and climbing shoes in hand, they walk briskly out of the bathrooms and make their way up the stairs to the shorter auto-belay courses.
There’s only one man on the wall, he’s on a 10 A, near the top. He’s wearing a muscle shirt and shorts with bright yellow shoes. Pedri never understood how anyone climbs in shorts, his legs always scraped the sandpaper-like wall, but he couldn’t deny he looked… nice.
The man was moving pretty gracefully, moving his body every which way and leveraging his knees against some pretty interestingly shaped holds. He makes it to the top before letting go and quickly descending to the ground.
As he unclips, Pedri gets a better look at him. He isn’t the tallest guy he’s ever seen, but he is tall, at least six feet. He’s got broad shoulders and muscular arms, clearly very toned. He’s moving his curly brown hair from his forehead and wipes at the sweat forming there. As he turns he catches sight of Ferran and his face lights up.
He offers a big warm smile on pretty pouty pink lips, “Hey, glad you made it!” He clasps Ferran’s hand and gives him a manly bro hug before his eyes glance at him. “You must be Pedri, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He holds out his hand but when Pedri takes it he’s being pulled into those strong arms. He can smell the cologne on the man's neck, and feel the muscles in his arms as well as his rock-hard chest.
Dear god, he hopes he isn’t blushing. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you.” He offers him a smile, cringing internally because he feels awkward as hell and this guy is exactly his type, to a T.
He has the prettiest chocolate brown eyes and his cheeks are dusted pink. “It’s nice to meet you too. Do you guys need to warm up?” He’s taken a step back, hands on his hips as he takes a deeper breath. He’s looking between the two of them and Pedri is trying not to show his panic because a 10 A is not his idea of a warm-up.
“Definitely, we need to play catch up. Go do something easy.” Ferran claps him on the back before walking to clip into a 5.9.
Pedri follows him like a lost dog, clipping into the wall next to him, planning on climbing the 5.8. As he moves up, he tries his best to move gracefully and quickly, trying to remain calm as he goes. Find his footing and stands up to grab his next hold, focusing on the placement of his feet and trying to beat Ferran up so he doesn’t look pathetic.
Luckily he does beat Ferran, drops down, and gets to the floor before he’s completely at the top. He smiles as he unclips and watches when the man drops, “Beat you.” He smirks.
“You were on an easier level, bitch.” He snarks back.
Gavi is walking up to them, a friendly smile on his face, “How many walls do you want to up here?” Damn, he’s already tired of the auto-belays and they’ve only started.
“We usually do two up here, one on the big auto-belay wall downstairs, and then we top-rope at least ten times,” Ferran says smoothly, taking a swig of water from his bottle.
Gavi nods, “If you want an easy one, the green one is super fun.” He points at a 5.9 with the shittiest grips on planet Earth. “Or you could do the black one, it’s a bitch but I like it.” He looks at Pedri for a moment, before his eyes flicker back to Ferran.
“I call green.”
That bastard took the easy course and left him with a 10 A. “Fuck you.” He says again.
Getting started was hard, his first food hold was two and a half feet off the ground and every grip was small. He almost slipped twice but he did make it up. Ferran had already finished his course, both men staring at him from the ground. As he descended he glared at his friend. “That’s not a warm-up level.”
Gavi laughs, bright just like the sun. “What, you killed it,” Ferran says, stretching out the first word. “You did better than I could.”
“That’s cause your shit.” He unclips, folding his arms over his chest trying his best to seem cool.
Another bright laugh, Gavi’s looking at him with a grin. “You were great, just need to watch your footing.”
The next wall is easier, he does a 5.9 and climbs a seventy-foot wall. Ferran tries and fails a 10 B because he slips and the auto-belay drops him. Gavi scales a 10 A before Pedri and smiles at him as he comes down.
“Ferran’s gonna drop, he’s been hanging on way too long without moving.” He motions his head at the man clinging to the wall.
Pedri laughs as he watches him slip and come down.
“No one say anything.” He threatens. “Do you want to go first? I’ll belay you then I can climb and Pedri will belay me?” Ferran asks wiping at his face and stretching his arms.
“Yeah, sounds good to me. There’s a wall I’ve been meaning to try, it’s a 12 B, on the other side.” He gestures his head again, mimicking Ferran’s stretching movements.
Pedri’s eyes widen at the idea of a 12 B, the hardest wall he’s ever done is an 11 A. His arms hurt just thinking about it. Gavi notices the reaction clearly because he’s throwing his head back with another beautiful and gentle laugh. Pedri notices he has the prettiest dimples.
After he’s sufficiently tied in, and Ferran is clipped in ready to go, Gavi begins his ascent. His movements are calculated and well thought out, moving with intention at every moment. He’s careful not to over-exert his arms until he gets to the dramatic slant of the wall. At that point, he relies on his strong, defined, muscular arms to pull him up. He’s fighting against gravity, and Pedri can hear him grunting from the ground.
Once he’s over the slant, he has a straight wall for at least twenty feet before it has a slight curve once again. He’s slowed down a bit, but still calculated and effortless. He can see the vague outline of his balls from the ground. Don’t be a fucking pervert, you freak.
He pauses a moment, leans back, and relies on the rope to hold him as he shoves his hand into his chalk bag, one at a time. Then he moves again, gripping oddly round holds with his entire arm and then pulling himself up, standing on the tiniest foot holds ever and bending his knees every which way.
He pauses again, ten feet away from the top, and throws his head back. Pedri wonders if he’s groaning.
After about a minute, he’s reached the top, letting go of the wall and hanging, sticking his arm out and giving a thumbs up to signal to Ferran to bring him down. As he does, he gently kicks against the wall until he reaches the floor.
“That was kind of a bitch.” He mumbles, his neck is glistening slightly and his arms are stunningly sweaty. Pedri wants to lick him. Pervert.
Gavi stares at him, catches his eye making Pedri blush, before glancing at Ferran. “What wall do you want to climb?” He throws his shoes off after he’s untied.
“Definitely not this one. I’m thinking a nice 10 B.”
“Purple one?” Pedri suggests, trying to insert himself into the conversation so he doesn’t seem like a shy weirdo. Even though nobody’s thinking that. But he is.
Ferran struggles the whole way up. His biggest problem is finding his footing and not hanging off the wall for forever. It takes him a good couple of minutes to get to the top of the wall.
Pedri hadn’t thought about the fact that at some point, Ferran was going to be in the air and he would have to converse with Gavi like a normal person.
“So, Pedri, Ferran tells me you’re a nurse.” He says when Ferran is only fifteen feet off the ground. His eyes are flickering between the man and the Canarian.
Pedri would like to think his movements are confident, steadily moving the rope and tightening the line whenever he’s given the chance. He trains his eyes on the man above him, so as not to ogle the one beside him. “Yeah.”
“Do you like it?”
He breaks his eyes away to look at the taller man, “Yeah, I do. I’ve always loved helping people and now I get paid to do it.”
Gavi smiles at him and shows off one of his dimples. “That’s sweet.” His eyes flash back to Ferran, who seems to be struggling with his legs. “Move your left foot up to the hold by your knee then reach for the one straight above you.” He calls out, Pedri distantly wonders if he’s being loud enough to be heard. His attention snaps back to him, “So are you far? From the gym?”
He shakes his head, eyes fixing on those pink lips, they look soft. “No, it’s a ten-minute drive, and Ferran is in some apartments on my way so I always stop and pick him up.”
He nods his head, “That’s nice, being close by.” His eyes move back to the man above them, “You’re going to have to reach for the hold to your right, put both feet on that big one.” He calls up, Ferran trying his best to do so.
He pulls the rope once the man makes his move, effectively hoisting him up. “I feel like I’m just pulling him up the wall at this point.” He gives a smile and chuckles to himself.
“Yeah, it looks like it too.” Pedri watches his Adam’s apple bob with the sound. He needs to stop staring and focus on not killing Ferran.
“Your right foot needs to hike up to the hold above your knee, then step up and place your left on the one by your elbow.” He calls again, Pedri thinks that’s an impossible task.
The second he moves he is pulling on the rope, quickly moving him up the wall.
“Where are you from? You’re not from Barcelona.”
“No, I’m from Tenerife.” He smiles, it’s sweet that he noticed, or maybe he hates his accent. He isn’t sure, but he tries not to worry.
Gavi hums in acknowledgment, “I’ve never been to the islands, how is it?”
“Amazing, it’s the most beautiful place on earth. You need to visit sometime.” He gushes, he loves his home. It’s undeniable that everything about his islands is a part of him, something special and magical and his.
Gavi gives him a little smirk, showing off one of his dimples once again, “You should take me some time.”
Pedri turns red, it feels flirty, but he honestly isn’t sure. He figured Gavi was straight, and even if he wasn’t, he was terrible at picking up on flirting. And he isn’t used to people being this forward and it makes his stomach lurch with glee, makes him feel like he’s spinning.
Before he can respond, Ferran is signaling to bring him down.
“I absolutely killed that.”
“I pulled you up the wall.” Pedri rolls his eyes, unclipping his harness with a sarcastic grin.
Ferran dares to scoff as if he was wrong in any way. “You did not. I climbed that all on my own merit.”
Pedri shakes his head and starts walking down the wall, it’s his turn to climb and he wants to start tying in as soon as he can. He picks an 11 A, so he can try to do a hard one before he gets too tired. As he’s tying in, Gavi clips his harness and stares at him.
He looks away, his stare is intense and intimidating and he would rather not think about why it’s happening. He begins his ascent once he gets the go-ahead from Gavi, starts moving up the wall. Not too slow so he doesn’t burn out, yet considerate of his every move.
Gavi doesn’t call out instructions to him and it makes him a little proud. He doesn’t give him much slack either, exactly how Pedri likes it.
About halfway up he realizes he’s stuck. His arms are burning and his legs feel a bit shaky, he just got past a slant and his next hold is a little way up, he isn’t the tallest so he’s not sure he’ll be able to reach. He glances around and finds his next footing is at his mid-thigh, this was not going to be a comfortable move. But he would rather die on this wall than ask Gavi to bring him down.
He pushes his left leg up and struggles to secure it on the hold, once he does though, he’s standing up and reaching for the nice grip above him. He’s holding on now, glancing above him for his next move before glancing down. He’s at least fifty feet in the air, and he’s panting like a dog. He’s exhausted but he needs to keep pushing.
Another grip is just out of reach, he needs to switch his left foot up and to the right a bit so he can secure his right foot on a thick hold and reach.
He’s getting close, swearing under his breath as he takes a few confident movements upwards, feeling his hands burn as they grip a small hold. It’s moments like these where he wonders why he enjoys climbing so much.
His hands are sweating so he grabs some chalk quickly, moves upwards again, he knows if he doesn’t try to move he’ll get too tired. Another leg up, stand, grab a new hold, leg up, leg up, stand, new hold, new hold, leg up, stand, new hold, leg up, leg up, stand.
When he’s finally descending to the ground his face is red and he’s breathing heavily. He wipes at his face and licks his lips before untying himself.
Gavi is staring at him, an odd expression on his face. Eyes roaming from his eyes to his cheekbones, to the flush on his nose, and his tongue darting out to wet his lips. He swallows thickly before tearing his eyes away. “Good job, you did great.” He’s motioning them all to follow him, his water bottle, phone, and shoes in hand. “There’s a 13 B I need to do.”
Ferran has an odd look on his face, confused, surprised, maybe a bit smug.
…
After Pedri has finished his thirteenth wall, he collapses on the floor in a heap. “Holy shit.”
Gavi’s laughing, moving to untie him for the man. “You killed it, made it your bitch.” He’s smiling and wetting his lips, looking at him with an odd glint in his eye.
“It’s a 5.8, that’s supposed to be easy and it kicked my ass.” He feels himself swoon and blushes at the boy's actions, trying hard not to get turned on at the image of him on top of him. He isn’t even on top of him, just kind of looming over him helpfully. But still, he thinks of everything else to distract him to avoid any awkward boners.
Ferran is giggling on the bench, “I thought you were going to tap out.”
“You would have made fun of me for the rest of time.”
“I think we should call it.” Gavi smiles, he looks tired himself, his hair is slightly disheveled and he’s been sweating. His knees are red too and it takes a lot to not imagine him on his knees sucking Pedri off.
Pedri makes a noise of agreement and continues to lie on the ground even after he’s no longer attached to the wall. The younger man (Pedri found out he was only twenty-three a few walls back) unstraps his shoes and pulls them off for him. Makes his stomach jump and his cock twitch just a bit. Gavi offers him a hand, and pulls him up like he was nothing. I wonder how easily he could throw me around.
“Let’s hit the showers,” Ferran says, giving Pedri an odd and unreadable look. Usually, they don’t shower here, but he does feel disgusting and it’d be nice to feel some cold water on his aching muscles.
The shower is nice and relaxing, although he doesn’t want to be standing. He wraps a towel around his waist and makes his way to his locker. He’s rummaging through his bag looking for his spare t-shirt and basketball shorts when he feels someone staring at him.
He glances up and to his left, making eye contact with Gavi who’s been eyeing him. He blushes when Gavi gives him a friendly smile and continues to put his tennis shoes on.
When he’s finally dressed (he did chicken out and run to a stall to change because he could feel Gavi looking at him) and gathered his things he sits patiently and waits for Ferran.
“Hey, I need to get going but it was super fun climbing with you.” Gavi walks up to him while typing away on his phone.
“Yeah, you too, it was great meeting you.”
Gavi’s eyes break away from his screen and he gives a small smile, “Can I get your number? So we can go again?”
Pedri’s heart skips at least five beats before he nods his head and grins like an idiot, “Yeah of course!”
He’s handed a phone with the contact page open, types in his number and puts “Pedri :)” as the contact name. Handing it back, their hands touch for a moment and he struggles just a bit to breathe.
“Cool, thanks!” He grins and leans in, “Nice ass by the way.” He spins and saunters away.
Pedri is speechless and his heart has stopped.