THE WORKOUT
"Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred!"
Finn let the barbells drop onto the floor with a clang, his arms quivering with the effort of having forced himself to do his full set of reps. He sat down on the bench behind him and fell back, panting.
"Man," he said aloud to no one, "that was intense."
"I'll say!" said an eager voice from the doorway. Finn looked over to see his best buddy Junko standing there.
"Heya, Junk," said Finn, sitting up again and only wincing slightly from his aching muscles. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," said Junko, stepping into the room and walking over to Finn, who was using a hand towel to wipe the sweat off his face. "How much do those things weigh, anyway?" he asked, pointing at the barbells Finn had dropped.
"Thirty pounds each, my friend," said Finn as he flexed and admired his own bicep. "I'm up to a hundred reps per set now."
Junko reached forward and tentatively poked Finn's bicep with his finger, then laughed. "Um, Finn?" he asked. "Isn't that supposed to be a little bigger by now?"
Finn raised an eyebrow and looked at Junko. "Oh, you think you can do better?"
Junko's eyes widened. "Sure!" he said eagerly.
Finn stood up to the side of the weight bench and swept his arms towards it. "Then by all means, be my guest," he said, ushering his large friend into the seat.
Junko sat down, then leaned back with his head between the barbell supports. "See, us Wallops don't have to work out like you other scrawny races. We're just... bigger!"
Finn chuckled to himself at Junko's naiveté. He acted as if no one – especially Finn – had ever noticed how big Junko was. In fact, it was quite the opposite – when Finn looked at his friend, he often could ONLY see those huge arms, solid chest, tight waist, and every other muscular part. I mean, sure, Junko was also the kindest, sweetest, most fun guy Finn had ever met, but when they were in the hangar bay working on their skimmers together, there were many times Finn had to turn away from watching Junko's body, usually needing to cover his erection in the process.
Of course, as he was thinking about all this, he was also loading weights onto the bar, and there lay Junko in front of him in all his wonderful, hard-bodied glory. He hoped Junko's attention would be fixed on the workout and not on what was starting to stir in his shorts.
Junko concentrated on the bar above him, and gripped it with his massive paws as Finn finished loading weights onto either side of it. Finn rested his hands lightly on the underside of the bar just next to Junko's hands, and tried not to be obvious about lightly brushing against them. "OK, buddy," said Finn, "Give it a try."
Junko's hands tightened, he pushed up... and the barbells almost flew out of his hands. Junko looked confused for a moment, then his face broke into a grin. He shifted his grip, let go with his left hand, and started twirling the barbells around with only his right hand. As Finn skittered out of the way to avoid the swirling weights, Junko tilted his head back and looked at him. "Um, Finn? I think these are a little light for me."
Finn's eyebrows came together in a look of consternation. "OK, then, wise guy – let's give you a challenge!"
Junko grinned even bigger and put the barbells back onto its supports as Finn went over to the weight rack and started slipping every weight in the gym onto each side of the bar. Soon he was struggling with the largest weights, and when he finished it bowed in the middle, bending almost like rubber. Junko, who had been watching, rubbed his hands together. "Now that looks like more of a challenge!" he said, and he sat back down on the bench.
Although it was obviously a useless exercise to try to spot him, Finn wasn't going to pass up a chance to get this close to Junko while he worked up a sweat. He stood above Junko's head and again placed his hands on either side of Junko's.
"Here we go," said Junko, and his arms tensed as he pushed against the weight of the barbell. This time the bar didn't move, and Junko began to strain.
"Not so strong without those knucklebusters, are ya," Finn taunted with a smirk. In response, Junko's eyebrows furrowed, his biceps bulged, and he began to sweat as he pushed harder, and finally the bar lifted slightly out of its supports.
Junko grunted with the effort while Finn kept count. With each rep, Finn found it harder and harder to concentrate on the numbers when his attention was definitely on the straining musculature of Junko's massive arms. He didn't even realize he'd made it to one hundred when Junko rested the barbell on its rest.
Junko was panting and sweating, but after catching his breath he looked at Finn, who had an odd expression on his face. Junko realized Finn was looking at his bicep, blushed a bit and said, "Uh, Finn? You ok, buddy?"
Finn muttered a vacant, "Huh?" before blinking and realizing what he had been doing. He, too, blushed, and stammered, "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine. That, uh, that was a good set, buddy." He clapped his hands, raised his eyebrows, and said, "So, um, want to take a shower?" When Junko blushed an even deeper shade of red, Finn realized what he'd just said. "Um, I mean, uh, I'm done here, and, uh, it looks like you're, well, uh, I just meant that, you know, we should probably…"
Junko laughed out loud at his friend's embarrassment. "It's ok, Finn. Let's go." He stood up from the bench, grabbed a towel, and headed towards the shower room.
Behind him, Finn smacked his palm to his forehead. He couldn't believe he'd let his inner thoughts slip out like that, but he had been so distracted by Junko's gorgeous body that he'd just spoken without thinking. He grabbed his own towel and sheepishly headed after Junko.
