A/N: Written for Yuletide 2005.

They weren't all best friends or anything like that on Monday, but it wasn't as cold as Claire made it seem like it would be. Bender nodded hello in the hallway, prompting Cliff to grab Brian's shirt and go, "You know him?". Brian kind of laughed and said, "Sort of." Allison came over and talked to Brian after lunch, and was totally weird and freaked out Brian's friends, but that was okay. Claire even smiled and gave a little wave as she walked past Brian on the way to class.

Andy was the biggest surprise, though. "Brian. Hey, man," he said, thumping Brian on the back after third period.

"Hey, Andy," Brian said, grinning widely.

"Hey." Andy nodded and half-smiled, like he wasn't sure what he was going to say next. "Um. Saturday was wild, huh?"

"Yeah, wild," Brian said, looking down at his feet, and then across the hallway. A couple of pretty girls were whispering to each other and looking at him and Andy.

"So, um. Hey, do you like, ever lift weights?" Andy asked. "Uh, or... you know. I've got a pretty sweet setup in our garage, and you could come over and use it, if you wanted. Sometime, I mean. It could be fun."

Brian stifled a giggle. Him, lifting weights? Andy must be off his rocker. He was about to say as much when it occurred to him that it would at least be hanging out with Andy, and that might be fun. Different, at least. "Yeah, uh, okay."

So that Wednesday, Brian went over to Andy's after school and learned about things like bicep curls and ab curls and squats and lunges. He was embarrassed about having to use the smallest weights, but Andy didn't notice. Andy didn't seem to notice anything while he was working out. He looked like he was working on a really difficult calculus problem, or something. Except with a lot more sweating and muscles.

After the workout, they had some sandwiches Andy's mom made, and cokes. They talked a bit about school, but there wasn't a whole lot they had in common there. After the third or fourth uncomfortable silence, Brian stretched out his arms like he was tired. "See you later?" he said, standing up. "I have to study."

"Yeah," Andy said. "Come by on Friday and we'll work on those triceps?"

"Sure," Brian said before he could really think about it.

They settled into a routine of sorts—kind of a buddy thing, Brian guessed. Brian came over every other day or so and they'd hit the weights, then eat in near silence. The silence didn't seem to bother Andy, so Brian decided not to worry about it.

It was maybe a month later when Brian noticed the muscle. It wasn't very big, and he had to really flex to see it, but it was a muscle—his muscle. He spent twenty minutes in front of the mirror, flexing and unflexing his arms, and was almost late for school.

He practically ran over to Andy's after school, eager to show off. "Look. Muscle!" he said, throwing his sweatshirt off and pushing up his t-shirt sleeve.

"Cool," Andy said, grinning. "You've been working for it."

Brian flexed his arm and looked at it in the dingy wall mirror in Andy's garage. "Maybe I'll grow a mustache, like Magnum P.I.," he said. Inside, he groaned. Had he really said something so utterly dorky?

Andy laughed. "Once, when I was a kid, I broke my collarbone trying to jump over the hood of my mom's car, like on Starsky & Hutch."

"No way," Brian said, laughing so hard he snorted.

"Hey, shut up, Magnum," Andy said, whipping his bench towel out and snapping Brian's thigh. Brian went quiet, then they both laughed.

"Try the bench today?" Andy said after a while.

Brian got into position on the bench while Andy slid the weight plates on. "So. Uh. You really going out with Allison?"

Andy looked down at Brian, and for a second, Brian felt like he was at the dentist's, looking up at Andy's upside-down face. "I dunno. It's hard to tell sometimes," Andy said. "Like... we, uh, kissed and stuff. But she doesn't like to talk on the phone, so the only time I can like, talk to her is at school, and we don't have any of the same classes." He shrugged. "I guess we're kind of going out. Sort of."

Brian gripped the barbell with both hands and inhaled. Andy cupped his hands next to Brian's, close to but not touching the weight. "Do you think Bender and Claire are doing it?" he asked, just as Brian lifted the weight.

"Jesus, Andy," Brian said, his wrist giving slightly. The weight teetered to the side, but Brian was able to right it. "Nice timing."

Andy snorted. "You should've seen your face, man." He helped Brian steady the weight, then said, "Five reps."

Brian exhaled and lifted the weight. "Those two were a surprise, huh?"

"How do you mean?"

"You know." Exhale, lift. "They were all hating each other and then they're like, making out."

"Yeah. Some girls like that shit, I guess. Like, telling them they're not hot stuff gets them all hot. Or something."

"That's stupid." Exhale, lift. "I don't get it."

"That's girls, man. They're just... weird."

"Yeah." Exhale, lift. "I don't get it." Exhale, lift. "I- I don't get them." Brian set the barbell back on its perch and sat up.

"Neither do I, man. Neither do I," Andy said, sitting down next to Brian.

Brian nodded in silence. He'd never thought someone like Andy would have any kind of problem understanding girls, or anything else, except for the stuff Brian understood, like physics and chess. But now that Andy'd said it, it seemed to make sense.

If Brian could work out and get muscles, then Andy could not get girls and do dumb things like break his collarbone being a dork.

He laughed and wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Starsky," he said, bumping Andy's shoulder with his.

"Magnum," Andy said, grinning and bumping back.