Chapter 7: The Perks of Having Been a Wallflower

Ivan didn't know why he had come here. He never went to the gym, and wasn't planning on getting a membership anytime soon. Plus, he could see Alfred whenever he felt like it, no need to take a bus to one of his work places. Ivan guessed he was just curious, and it was his Saturday off, so he didn't have anything else going on.

Pushing through his mixed feelings, he went inside, cool air-conditioning blowing into his hair the moment the sliding doors opened for him. It was a pretty large building with many facilities, the entrance hall containing plaques that read "cafeteria", "pool", "outdoors" and "indoors". A sturdy-looking woman sat behind the desk, a bottle containing some green liquid standing next to the computer she was currently typing away on. It was like an intimidating warning sign, no entrance for unhealthy people. Or maybe her appearance was supposed to encourage possible newcomers?

The pool was visible through glass windows, a dozen people swimming up and down its length, two lifeguards overseeing the area. No Alfred there. Not that Ivan had expected to see Alfred so soon. This was actually better; at least now he could look around without making it seem like he had come here just to spy on his neighbour. Which he hadn't. When it came to the spying, at least. He was just curious is all.

The lady behind the desk looked up. "Can I help you?" she asked, tone as upbeat as Alfred's, as if everyone who had too much energy to spare came to work here.

Ivan offered a neutral smile. "No thank you, I was just looking around. A friend of mine recommended this gym, so I wanted to come look at them work."

She continued looking straight at him. "Okay honey, if you want to wait here or in the cafeteria that's fine, but I can't allow you further in without a membership card. Or if you want a one-day try-out, I could fix you up a pass and assign someone to give you a quick tour of all our facilities?"

Ivan had begun shaking his head midway through her sentence. "That will not be necessary, thank y—"

"Okay Earl, that was a great workout! See you same time, next week?"

Oh no.

Ivan's expression froze when his very reason for being here walked in through one of the doors, accompanying a middle-aged man who looked very red in the face and very out of breath. And despite the tight-fitting tank top, the headband that made his hair stand up even more, the red-white-and-blue sweatbands around his wrists, almost too-white sneakers that definitely looked like they would light up in the dark and a pair of far too baggy sweatbands, Alfred looked almost…professional. At least, he definitely looked like he fit right in, strong arm muscles accentuated by the lack of sleeves. Ivan hadn't noticed it up until now, but Alfred was looking quite, for lack of a better term, ripped, even though he didn't even come close to sporting a six-pack. The baby fat from his teenage years was all gone, that much was true.

Alfred noticed him before Ivan could unfreeze, his customer-aimed smile quickly turning into one of those bright things he usually kept for Ivan. As if he were the sun and Alfred was helplessly orbiting around him, when in fact, it was the other way around. Or at least, it used to be. Which didn't mean that Ivan disliked being looked at like that, no matter how much it complicated things.

"Ivan! You came! You should've called or something, so I could have given you a warmer welcome!"

"Ah, so you're the friend he's been talking about?" desk lady said, very helpfully, as she wrote Earl down for another appointment.

Ivan really wished looks could kill. Or at least prevent someone for saying unnecessary things.

Alfred was practically radiating satisfaction by now. "Aw, you've been talking about me to Eliza?"

"I just said I came here on your recommendation," Ivan mumbled bitterly, feeling like a child who had been caught with its hand in the cookie jar. As if Alfred was a cookie. More like forbidden fruit. As in, this had been a bad idea.

Alfred walked over, skip in his step. "Well, you're in good hands! Don't worry about payment Eliza, he's with me for the day." He turned to face Ivan. "Ready for your tour?"

Ivan tried to protest, weakly, but really, what choice did he have? He couldn't just go visit a gym, the specific gym his neighbour worked at, and then act like he hadn't come here for him. Alfred had to be feeling very smug right about now, that little bastard.

Only, instead of gloating about how Ivan had come here just to see him, Alfred steered them towards the dressing room.

"Wait, where are we going?" Ivan asked. "Do all of your tours start with smelly sweaty places?"

Alfred looked at him quizzically. "You're going to get changed, of course. Can't enter a gym in your daily clothes!"

Ivan stared at him. "I did not bring anything to work out in," he said lamely, now realising that he should have. Now that would have been a nice excuse. Oh no, I did not come here for you, I simply wanted a workout. Maybe there was still time to run away and never come back.

Alfred was not to be deterred. "No problem! I can fix you up with some spare clothes. We always keep a few sets around, just in case. And don't worry," he said, seeing Ivan's leer, "they're all clean. Duh."

Alfred then proceeded to unceremoniously dump Ivan in the dressing room, soon returning with an armful of clothes and shoes.

"I don't know your shoe size, so I just brought the biggest pair. If they don't fit, just give a holler, nothing worse than exercising with shoes that hurt your feet."

"I do not have big feet," Ivan huffed, "and really, I am fine. You can just give me a tour, no workout needed."

Alfred shook his head. "No can do, big guy! No entering the gym without the appropriate clothes. Plus you know what they say about guys with big feet." WINK. "Besides, you didn't come here just to have me show you around, right?" His eyes were far too bright. There was no way Alfred didn't realise the amount of discomfort he was causing Ivan. "Also, I'm curious to see what you can do! Because I'm a personal trainer," he quickly amended, as if his any other form of curiosity would be deemed insufficiently founded.

Ivan gave an almost pained expression, wondering how he kept getting himself into these messes. His life had been perfectly fine before Alfred came. Now there were bathroom incidents, awkward gym exchanges, an increasing lack of spare time… Ivan knew he wasn't a masochist, but sometimes he couldn't help but come to that exact conclusion.

"Fine. I will put on your dirty gym clothes."

"They're clean!" Alfred piped in one last time before giving Ivan some privacy, probably not wanting a repeat of what had happened last time in his bedroom. Still, as Ivan changed, to his displeasure finding the clothes to be exactly the right size, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. However, when glancing over his shoulder, he found Alfred to be neatly looking at the door, as if playing watchdog. Must have been his imagination.

"There. I changed. But I really just wanted to come take a look, not work out. I can decide after the tour if I want to keep coming here."

Alfred grabbed him by the elbow. "But making a decision will be easier when you've actually gotten a taste of our equipment, right? You're not gonna decide whether you like food without tasting it."

Alfred was right. Or at least, he would have been, had Ivan been truthful about his intentions. He never should have come here. But now that he had, there was no other choice but to grit his teeth and go along with it.

Alfred first brought him outdoors, talking excitedly about all the different sports that could be practiced here, gesticulating wildly as he explained the uses of the track field and opening hours of the outside pool. Ivan meekly followed behind, switching between watching Alfred talk in such an animated manner and looking at the few people currently exercising outside, most of them using the pool. He supposed there would be more clients inside the building, making use of the air-conditioning in this hot weather.

"I guess we'd better head inside for you to try out some of our equipment, unless you wanna throw a few balls?"

"That will not be necessary," Ivan said in a thin voice. He hadn't thrown a ball since graduating from high school, and he wasn't planning on embarrassing himself now. If Alfred had asked him to run a few laps, sure, that he could do. But actual sports? No thanks.

Most of the exercise machinery inside was already taken, several other personal trainers keeping watch over their appointed client. Alfred greeted all of them as they walked by, even though he clearly had already seen them earlier today, but that was just Alfred. Always happy to see other people, and wanting to show that appreciation.

"Okay. Here we are," Alfred said, pointing Ivan to a treadmill. "Usually I put people to work with some cardio training first. Well, usually usually I sit them down first to do a health assessment, but since you're a special case, I'll have you start here."

"How am I a special case?" Ivan asked, almost offended.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Duh, we're buddies! And neighbours. So I can check your health anytime."

He probably hadn't meant it that way, but to Ivan, it sounded a little bit…double. Or maybe his mind was just wandering to the wrong places today. Like how he kept thinking about what Alfred would look like shirtless. For scientific purposes. Just so he could compare with younger Alfred.

Begrudgingly, Ivan started up on the treadmill, Alfred leaning over as he continued talking, both explaining all the different functions and chitchatting about unrelated topics. Ivan had no choice but to humour him, soon picking up the pace when Alfred noticed he was used to running.

"So yeah, this is one of my jobs! I have to tell you, I honestly didn't expect you to come. Not that I didn't want you here or anything! Duh, I invited you, would be weird if I told you the name of this place and everything without actually wanting you here."

Ivan was trying to tune him out, focusing on his breathing instead, but found it difficult to do so. Luckily there was no one else looking their way; everyone was focused on their own routine. Which was nice, in a way. One of the reasons Ivan had never considered visiting a gym was that he didn't care for being stared at. No such thing happening right now.

Alfred nodded approvingly when he turned up the speed even more and Ivan adapted almost effortlessly. "You look like you've done this before! Have you?"

Ivan shook his head. "Jogging," he grunted out, not feeling like having a conversation while he was doing this.

"I didn't know you jogged! When? In the morning? Is that why you're almost always up before me?"

Ivan remained silent, not deeming the question worthy of affirmation. Alfred began leaning in, one elbow propped up on the machine. He was silent for but a moment, biting his lip.

"So uh…you know last time, when I came to your door—"

"And interrupted my shower. Yes," Ivan panted.

Alfred smiled wryly. "Yeah, so, remember, I uh, I had actually come to ask you something, but with everything going on, I didn't really get the chance to do so, so—"

As he was talking, his elbow slipped, accidentally touching the button that adjusted the speed of the treadmill. Without him noticing, the speed was turned up immediately, forcing Ivan from a heavy jog to a full-on sprint.

"Al-fred!" Ivan warned, trying to grab the bars and jump to the side, but too late. One moment he was running, the next, a worried Alfred was staring down at a heavily breathing pile of Russian.

"Ah jeez, I'm so, so sorry! I don't usually make rookie mistakes like that, I—here," he extended his hand, "lemme help you up."

Ivan only opened his eyes to glare at Alfred. And of course, everyone was looking at them now. Yet another place he could never return to. He could add the gym to his list, placing it right under Bar Venice, where the karaoke incident with his sisters had taken place, and that one Chinese restaurant he had to literally drag Yao out of after the other had begun arguing with the patron over the blatant racism of having fake-Chinese waiters waltzing around the establishment. Not that he wanted to go back there. Yao could make them Chinese meals anytime they felt like it anyway.

After that, Alfred finally agreed to just show Ivan the other pieces of equipment, without forcing him to use them, although Ivan didn't let the opportunity pass to show off how much weight he could lift (even though he had the feeling that he only beat Alfred because the other was distracted by something).

The tour ended in the cafeteria, where Alfred took his lunch break and Ivan tried one of the healthy (and surprisingly tasty) smoothies.

"Again, really sorry for what happened on the treadmill. I swear I never do that."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "You just got distracted because of my sexy body?"

He had meant it as a jab, but found himself to be even more pleased when Alfred blushed instead of trying to protest.

Ivan took another sip from his straw. "Anyway. You were going to ask something before rudely pushing me off the treadmill?"

"I didn't push you!" Alfred gasped, before being distracted by his phone. After checking a message, his expression fell.

Ivan tilted his head. "Bad news?"

Alfred was worrying his lower lip again, fingers tapping the tabletop. Nervous ticks he almost didn't seem to be aware of.

"Not really…just—" He looked at Ivan, about to speak his mind. Ivan waited, watched Alfred recoil, as if, for some reason, losing courage.

"Nah, never mind. It's not important."

Ivan pushed his drink aside. "Alfred—"

"No, I swear!" Alfred laughed, but it sounded off. He had never been a good liar. "Don't worry your pretty little head over it."

"My head is not little," Ivan said, and when Alfred gave him a meaningful look, he realised that that wasn't the point.

Ivan still didn't know why Alfred got so flirtatious at times. Had he become a playboy, or did he only do this with Ivan? Or perhaps he was just this way with all of his friends.

There was always the possibility. That Alfred was starting to regain a certain interest in Ivan. Which wasn't Ivan's concern, nor his business. Because he only saw Alfred as a friend. Because he simply couldn't allow himself to consider Alfred as more than a friend. Because…

Ivan stirred his smoothie, the two of them quietly staring down, both having their own secrets to hide.

Because he wasn't ready to open up like that again.