1652 Days Until Last Communication
Duo sighed as he fell heavily into his desk chair, staring at the picture of his most recent ex before growling, ripping it from the cork board, and throwing it in the trash.
"Lost another one?" Susan inquired as she walked by with some kind of smoothie from the break room, sitting down at her desk next to him. Duo frowned, offering her a frustrated glare, but it was a question that required no answer as she already knew what he would say.
"You'll find someone," she said, clearly trying to be sympathetic, but Duo was already dreading the next two hours where he had no clients scheduled. The last thing he wanted to do was spend it bitching about his ex and his failed romantic life in general.
To be honest, he didn't really care. He was just tired of dealing with petty jealousy. It was almost worse than the guys who only wanted one thing. At least then he had no expectation of trust. But to constantly be accused of infidelity was more than he could bear. His job required him to interact with a lot of attractive people who cared a lot about what they looked like, but that didn't mean he was interested in any of them.
"You just can't give up," Susan continued, clearly undaunted by his outright lack of acknowledgement for the forced conversation. "Your soul mate is out there."
"Do you really believe that bullshit?" Duo asked frankly, pushed over the edge as she had been married and divorced twice by the age of twenty-six. But her wide eyes just blinked in surprise, clearly offended.
"Of course I do," she answered sagely. "It's not bullshit. We all have someone we are spiritually tied to, who will cross generations to come find us, who –"
Duo tried not to roll his eyes as he tuned her out, glancing over to his computer screen to check his monthly sales goals. Most of the time, he didn't really care about love. He was happy enough having a guy around for a few months to go to dinner with, to share his bed and make sure he got home okay at the end of the night but sometimes... Sometimes he wanted more than that. Sometimes he wanted someone who would fight for him.
Maybe that was an unrealistic expectation. He had been adopted into what he thought of as one of life's great love stories and he grew up watching a selfless kind of love where any adversity could be overcome with patience, understanding, and a tender hug or kiss. Where the only thing that mattered was supporting and defending those that you loved – even when they were wrong. It wasn't until he was off on his own that he realized that kind of love was special, rare, and likely way the fuck out of his grasp. And although he loved his parents, they set him up with some seriously unrealistic expectations.
He knew from the beginning that this guy wasn't ever going to be that, so he sighed and let it go. They'd had a nice few months and that was all he'd ever expected from that relationship so he shouldn't be disappointed. He should just learn either not to care or not to get involved at all.
"Have you heard a single word I just said?" Susan asked, perfect pink mouth set into a pout.
"Huh?" Duo asked, turning his eyes away from the computer screen and she whined his name petulantly. But he was scanning the floor, continuing to ignore her, and so he noticed when he walked in. Duo had never seen him there before – all classically handsome Marlon Brando kinda shit with dark tousled hair falling into his eyes and full lips, trim waist and narrow hips, and although he clearly could do with some lifting, he definitely had potential.
Duo snapped out of his stare and realized his mouth had been hanging open slightly, clicking his teeth shut with an embarrassed flush when he heard Susan's laughter.
"I think Duo's found his soul mate," she said to Kevin, who rolled his eyes as Duo glared back at them. "I don't think he's a customer. I'm gonna message Tina to send him to you." He heard the click of the keys and sighed, seeing his fate sealed.
"You wouldn't really fuck a cripple," Kevin stated with a skeptical and disgusted raised brow and Duo stared in shock, looking from Kevin back to the mystery man, noting the prosthetic leg that he'd merely scanned over before.
"That man is gorgeous," Duo stated without reservation as he looked back to Kevin. "You bet I'd fuck that."
"Christ," Kevin muttered, shuddering a little as he walked away and Duo frowned, unable to believe someone would be that narrow-minded but then, given his place of employment he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. Everyone was very image focused, especially the other trainers. Duo just enjoyed the challenge, getting to work with his body, and helping people change their lives and habits more than anything else.
Tina waved at him from the front desk and Duo waved back, attempting to hastily forget the unsettling comment as he plastered a friendly smile onto his face. Susan was giggling but Duo ignored her as the man walked over and Duo stood to greet him with a warm handshake across the desk.
"I'm Duo," he said, undaunted by the other man's stoicism. "Nice to meet you."
"Heero," he replied as their hands dropped, not even the hint of a smile on his face. "Likewise." He didn't seem too thrilled but then Duo let it go. Often people were nervous, expecting him to try to upsell them into services they didn't want.
"I suppose you'd like the grand tour?" Duo asked with a wink before leading him through the gym, careful not to leave anything out, even though he figured Heero probably couldn't really use a treadmill or an elliptical. He certainly wasn't going to bias him the way Kevin did.
Heero didn't say much and Duo led him back to his desk, trying to gauge his interest without making any assumptions but luckily Heero was pretty forthright once they were resettled.
"I'm really looking for a personal trainer," he said, and although Heero did seem a little ashamed, Duo didn't call that out, and just smiled, genuine, as he always did.
"Yeah? Well I'd be more than happy to help you with that," Duo said. "Is there anything specific you'd like to focus on? I mean obviously I would develop a meal and exercise plan tailored specifically to you..."
"Frankly I think my diet is fine," he stated matter-of-factly and Duo nodded, sure he was probably right as despite not having great muscle tone, he was far from fat. "But I would like to build muscle. I was in physical therapy for several months and after that my exercise regime was basically abandoned. I need help tailoring a program to my specific requirements now."
Duo took in the way Heero avoided making eye contact as he spoke, preferring to stare at the desk, his own hands, a point over Duo's shoulder where nothing of any real interest existed. Clearly he was still struggling with his injury and didn't like to talk about it. Not that Duo could blame him but he was glad for the sensitivity he had employed up until this point and made a special note not to do anything which might cause Heero to feel that he was treating him differently.
Which, Duo admitted to himself, was going to be a unique challenge as his desire to flirt with this handsome customer nearly got the better of him.
"Sure," he said instead, casual and easy. "I am sure we can come up with something together that would be perfect for you."
Duo pulled out several premade sheets of exercises which he used to design work out routines by checking off different activities for different days.
"I am concerned," Heero started carefully, clearly humiliated as his hands tightened into fists on his knees and he stared at the sheets with no small amount of reservation, "about my ability to complete any task with my leg as it is now."
Duo attempted to meet his eyes although Heero was doing his damned best to make sure that was impossible. He couldn't offer him any measure of comfort without being able to see him but then maybe Heero didn't want to be comforted, he figured as he put himself in Heero's shoes, thought about what Kevin said, clearly disgusted. Maybe to Heero comfort looked like pity.
"You said you underwent physical therapy, yeah?" Duo asked and Heero nodded his head slightly.
"Yeah."
"And obviously you can walk, right, and that was no easy feat, eh?" Duo asked and once again Heero nodded, but seemed a little embarrassed this time.
"Yeah."
"Well, here's the thing, Heero," Duo said with a grin, watching as Heero's eyes finally slid over to his, reluctant but nevertheless. "I believe you can do anything you damn well want to do with enough determination."
Heero seemed hesitant but it was only for a moment and in that tiny moment before resolve formed deep within Heero's eyes something passed between them that made it hard for Duo to catch his breath enough to speak. For a moment all that bullshit Susan had spouted about soul mates seemed strangely tangible and Duo knew – Heero would fight for the things he loved. He didn't know anything about Heero – didn't know if he had a wife or kids already or if he even swung his way but he knew, knew beyond a doubt – Heero was the kind of man he'd been waiting for.
Or at least so rebound lust and infatuation dictated, he told himself as he swallowed down butterflies.
"You could probably even do leg press, you know, with a spotter who knew what they were doing," he offered and winked as he turned back to the papers.
Heero seemed to relax then, his fingers loosening, leaning back in the seat and watching Duo as he checked boxes and rambled about how upper body especially shouldn't be a problem for him and that they'd just have to be more creative with lower body routines. Duo explained everything to him and Heero listened and made suggestions based on his comfort level and experience. They worked out a schedule together and Duo felt pretty confident that he'd be able to help Heero achieve his goals and really, that was enough for him. But if he got a little eye candy while doing it, well, that was just icing on the cake.
"So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Duo asked as they stood after they finished up and he processed Heero's membership. Heero just nodded his head and Duo reached out to shake his hand one more time, warm palms pressed against one another, and he smiled. "I look forward to working with you."
Heero smiled then, just the barest hint of curled lips that was likely forced anyway but nonetheless Duo felt his heart skip a beat to see that tiny expression of pleasure, wondering what the genuine article would look like and if he would ever see it and –
And then he was releasing Heero's hand, letting him walk away from his desk and out the door without another word as he stared after him, already looking forward to tomorrow and seeing him again despite knowing absolutely nothing about him.
"So what did you think?" Susan teased, knowing eyes appraising him with obvious amusement. "Soul mates?"
"Jesus! No, Susan, just – no," Duo replied hastily, rolling his eyes at such a ridiculous statement. As if you could know something like that from one meeting anyway.
Yet there was something...
And as his eyes wandered back to the door, he found that even if they weren't 'soul mates,' he was still looking forward to getting to know Heero better.
