My limbs ached, I was exhausted and I was panting hard.

I'd managed to fit running into my schedule more and more lately, but the laps still took more of a toll on me than they used to. On the plus side it wasn't as difficult to keep up with Jace as it had been. Of course, then Jace started to jog backwards just to rub in that he was better.

"Oh come on." He teased. Jace was panting too, though his breathing wasn't half as laboured as mine. "What, isn't Magnus working you out enough?"

I flushed. And not just from the physical work. Usually I have a better control over my embarrassment but all my will was currently focused on making my feet move.

"Shut up." I ordered.

Jace moved out of my way before I could push him. He fell back into step beside me and it seemed effortless. He still played sports in College so keeping fit had never dropped from his agenda.

"Maybe he's too old to keep up with you?" Jace grinned. This time I managed to body-check him and he stumbled a couple steps.

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I'm happy to say it again. My friend is a dick. However, Jace wasn't a judgemental dick. That made him easy to be around. My seeing Magnus was getting nothing but disapproval everywhere else I turned.

"He's not elderly, Jace!" I huffed.

Besides that, the one time I had 'experienced' Magnus the way Jace was implying, he had proven more than capable of keeping up. That sort of thing was pretty much Magnus' element. Me, on the other hand... Well. I couldn't really be blamed if I didn't know what I was doing so well.

I consoled myself with the fact it couldn't have been so bad for him if Magnus had come back to me afterwards. But I tried not to think about it, anyway.

"Yeah, yeah." Jace laughed. "Just don't let him fool you into thinking a walking stick is a fashion statement."

The thing about work is that no matter how much of the day you spend sat down or stationary, you always seem to feel worn out afterwards. As if you've put in all the effort you could spare that day into it. I'd thought that maybe if I started to run in the mornings I could eliminate that was keeping me from doing it afterwards.

This was not a good plan. Mostly because of my bad timekeeping.

The shower I took was so rushed that it probably wasn't even worth it. I didn't get to dry myself properly afterwards so the clothes I wore still ended up moist. I guess wetness from water was better than wetness from sweat. It smelled better, at the very least.

I wasn't running late enough to get me into trouble but I did have to hurry. I took the stairs up to the Museum quickly and nearly tripped once or twice, then shot through the doors to clock in at the desk with Imasu. We did the usual morning greetings in record time before I darted through to the office.

"Sorry I'm late, Zach, I needed to change my clothes." I explained, my breathing was already back to laboured. Give me a break, I didn't bet on having to run around after the laps which were planned.

Zach looked up from his laptop a little dumbfounded.

"You had to change clothes?" He asked. He kindly got some water from the small cooler we had and handed it to me. I thanked him and gulped the contents of the little plastic cup down.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I was out running laps and I got all sweaty and-"

I didn't think that I imagined the way Zach's dark eyes glinted when I spoke. I saw him look me over. Before, I might have ignored that or passed it off as something else; but I knew that look. I'd seen it on Magnus' face.

I didn't want to see it at work.

"-and that's gross. You don't want to hear this." I said. Hoping to take the conversation in a more professional direction. There was a good chance - better chance given the way he was staring at me now - that Zach already wanted to see me naked. I didn't need to talk about going home to shower.

"So... You're a fitness enthusiast?" Zach enquired and perched on the edge of the desk with his arms folded. He sounded flustered and cleared his throat.

"I don't think I'm dedicated enough to be called an 'enthusiast'." I laughed, albeit a little uneasily. "I try to keep healthy."

I slipped into my usual seat and doubly regretted choosing the morning for my outing with Jace. Flushed as I was, with my hair still damp and likely going wild, Zach was getting a pretty good approximation of what I'd look like having been 'worked out' (as Jace had so casually put it). I tried to regulate my breathing and buried my head in a book.

Zach resumed his read-walking for a while instead of sitting to type more of his latest paper. I wished he'd just sit down to concentrate; the sounds of him moving kept reminding me that he was there and left me very distracted.

More than that I wished that Magnus had never noticed anything off about Zach. I was so damn confused now. On the one hand, it was starting to look like a really accurate deduction. On the other I could have been misreading, it could have been Magnus' imagination.

Did he really smile at me differently? Had he really tried to ward Magnus off with that look in his eyes? A lot of things had been thrown into question now.

I thought about asking Imasu about it, sure that Zach would have mentioned it to him if he did have an interest in me. I stopped myself because if I did ask Imasu and it turned out to be a false alarm I had no doubt that it would get back to Zach and I would have opened a whole new can of worms.

So, if there was anything to discover I had to find out on my own. Not that that felt particularly hard anymore.

Next time Zach came close to see what I was reading he laid his hand on my shoulder again, like he had in front of Magnus days before. I immediately forgot about reading and focused on the hand that touched me. All I heard in my mind was the way Magnus had growled mine. My heart rate began to escalate. I didn't know if it was nerves or Magnus or something else causing it, but I swallowed and prayed it would slow again.

"Anything interesting?" Zach asked, using his other hand to pick up my notes. I usually saved him time by finding the relevant parts in amongst the parts of the texts we got that weren't so important. A lot of the time he read the whole thing himself anyway, which made it seem a little bit pointless. It felt like being paid to expand my own knowledge.

And sit in the office where he can see me.

Woah. Okay, that train of thought was heading nowhere good, so I got off it right away.

"Oh, yes." I said. I gave the book I had to him knowing he'd have to take it with both hands. He looked affronted for a second before he grasped it; and I smiled a little too widely in an attempt to cover up my awkwardness.

I knew from that point on that it was going to be a long day.

Once again, a big thank you to readers. I hope that you liked the chapter, and shall post the next one 'Helping Hands' in the near future.