Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 22:09:48 -0600 From: Kevin Mac Subject: RA Adventures Chapter 15 RA Adventures (C) KV 2000 If you're offended by sexual activities between men, or if you're younger than 18, you're not supposed to be here. If you're over 18 and meant to be here, please, kick back, relax and enjoy! The author reserves all rights. Individual copies of this story may be downloaded for personal use, but may not be reproduced without the author's express consent. I'm back!!!! Betcha thought I was gone forever! Thanks to all of you for reading...you are why I'm still writing. A special thanks to Heath... you've given me all the material I will ever need. I wish life were simpler, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything. Thanks to Noah for kicking my ass and finally getting me in gear. Os amo! ----------------------------- Chapter 15 First kisses were usually memorable, but this one was something else altogether. He locked his lips against mine again and then slowly pulled back. My hearing returned and I realized I was breathing very deeply and very hard. I opened my eyes slowly and gazed into the pools in his. He looked at me like it was the first time he'd ever seen me, his face serious, pensive. I managed to pry a hand from his waist and drew it along his jaw. He flushed and closed his eyes as I traced his lips lightly with the tip of my thumb. My breathing slowed to normal, and I the beginning of a smile curled my lips when he opened his eyes again. We stood in the hallway for the longest time, neither of us knowing exactly what to say, yet neither wanting to end the moment. 'Wow' was all I could think. Confusion and surprise didn't even **begin* to cover it. One thing was sure, though. Things were definitely different. I felt like we had switched channels and we were on a different level altogether. Clint slid his hands gently along my neck, just feeling my skin, My hand was still on his face, tracing his features, memorizing every inch. I cleared my throat, just in case, and Clint met my eyes penetratingly. "Now that...." I said, "**that* I didn't expect." He nodded and we both laughed. It was a relieved laugh, the kind that broke the ice. "Me neither," he said. I nodded and glanced down at his lips. "I'd move, but I'm not sure where we're supposed to go from here." I smiled. "Yeah," I agreed. "I think we have a lot to talk about." He inhaled deeply and let it out in one long breath. "Yup." "Wanna go sit down?" I asked. "Sure," he said. I felt like a kid on my first day of school, a little exited, a lot awkward and a lot nervous. I broke eye contact and walked as coolly as I could into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. "I'm gonna get a drink. You want one?" "Uh, yeah. Definitely. What do we have?" I asked. "Um...we've got some Smirnoff Ice's, I think," he said, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "Great." He rummaged around until he found two and I heard him unscrew them before he walked back into the living room. I wondered what would be said. I wondered if that would just be a mistake we were going to attempt to forget. When he had pulled me in, I felt like all our cards were on the table. Now, I felt more like we had just hinted that we were playing with a fuller deck. So many questions were up in the air, and I didn't have a clue where to start. Clint handed me the bottle and lowered himself to the floor, ending up sitting Indian- style in front of me. We both took long sips from our drinks and just kinda looked at each other's knees. "I have no clue where to even start," I said. "I know. Me neither." "You got some 'splaining to do..." I quoted and smiled. Clint reciprocated before running his fingers through his hair. I had discerned recently that it was the equivalent to my all-too-frequent temple massages. "Do we have to do this now?" he asked. I laughed. "Now you sound like me, dork," I said. "No, we don't **have* to do it now, but if you think I'm gonna get any sleep if we don't talk about it, you are dead wrong." "I know. Me too. Kev, I don't know." "I mean, I'm not saying we have to get it all figured out right now. I just have no clue where to go from here." Clint looked up at me and nodded, finally making eye contact. "I know what you mean." My head felt like it was spinning, and I knew the alcohol couldn't have hit me that fast. I had fantasized about Clint for so long, but hadn't actually ever imagined what would happen if we got this far. I just didn't think it would ever happen. Now we were there, and I was lost - another prime example of image versus reality. I had my knight, but where was the shining armor, and where was the freaking sunset?! Wasn't this the "happily ever after" part? "Care to share?" Clint asked, breaking me out of my little world of questions. "Huh?" I muttered. I just loved coming up with witty retorts. He chuckled and a smile spread over his face, and I was truly glad to see it. "You looked a million miles away. I just wondered what you were thinking." "I guess I was just trying to figure out where this puts us," I said. "I feel like I'm thinking too much." "So what else is new?" he was still grinning. "Shuddup." I couldn't help but smile back. "I don't have the first clue either, Kev." "I'm more wondering what that was all about, ya know?" I said, gesturing over my shoulder toward the hall. "Big question marks keep zooming around inside my head, and I don't wanna get carried away with flights of fancy, know what I mean?" I asked. I didn't give him a chance to answer. "We've had the whole 'a kiss is just a kiss' conversation before, and I'm not trying to bring that up again. But Clint, that didn't feel like just a curiosity kiss, but if that's what it was, then you have to tell me that now." He looked back down at his thighs and I felt my heart sink down into my stomach. "I guess that's my answer," I said. I wanted to get up and leave, scream, punch a wall, something. Maybe I'd do it all. "No! No, that's not my answer," he said. "It was a curiosity kiss, in some senses. I wanted to know what it would feel like. I had to know. But Kev, it wasn't a kiss out of random physical curiosity...not like when we were tanked up back at home with Dan. You had just told me how you felt; I wouldn't have done that to you just out of morbid curiosity." Suddenly I felt a little sheepish. "But..." I offered. "But I'm not ready to..." "Clint," I interrupted him. "I don't expect you to tell me you've been in love with me for whatever period of time, or that you are now. I'm not saying that the kiss means we're suddenly in a relationship. I especially don't want you to be anywhere you don't want to be, emotionally or whatever else. What I'm asking is if you know where you'd like us to go from here. Do we just take the kiss at face value and try to move on, or what?" He looked up at me and I could see him relax a little. He nodded before talking, like he was gathering his thoughts. "Okay. I'm not one hundred percent sure exactly where this puts us, and to be honest with you, I'm not totally sure where I want this to go. I realize that we're sort of at a crossroads and we have to decide which fork to choose. I guess what freaks me is that it's a commitment either way, and I'm not sure I'm ready to choose either path." "It doesn't have to be so black and white, though," I said. "What do you mean?" "It's not like we're either in or not in a relationship right now, this very instant. I'm not saying let's either date or not date. What I'm asking is whether there's even a possibility. And even then, I'm not saying you have to decide that now. If there is, that's great. If that's not even something you want to think about, then yeah, we do have to decide now where we're going to go." He nodded. "I'm not going to tell you it's not a possibility," he said and sighed. "Geez that felt weird." "What did?" "Saying that. It feels like I'm pretending," he chuckled. "I want to find out if it's a possibility. I definitely don't want to jump right in and say, yeah, let's give it a go, because I'm just not there. It'd be cruel and dishonest for me to do that to you, given that I know how you feel about me." "And how do you feel about me?" I asked. "I set myself up for that one, didn't I?" he asked with that look of comical defeat. I couldn't help but laugh. "Know what? Don't answer that. I don't want to put you on the spot and make you come up with that answer. Not now." He chuckled. "Seriously though, what about this," I said. "I want to find out if it's a possibility too. I want to take it slow. This is big stuff and we're tinkering with a good friendship. I say let's just keep going and see what happens." "Exactly. That's exactly what I was thinking." "I do want to be your friend regardless of this, but there are other interests as well, and I'm not going to pretend they're not there at all." "Obviously I don't think it's impossible either," he said. "Right. So for now, we just let our friendship progress and we leave that door open in the back of our minds." I said. "If we realize we're getting closer, then so be it. If not, then at least we haven't done anything stupid that we're gonna regret later." "So we take a step back. We don't pretend it didn't happen, but we aren't there yet. And we stay honest and open." "Yeah. Sounds like a plan." He looked up at me and held my gaze. It was that same bubbly look that was all Clint...that optimism and spark that was so clearly him. I felt my entire face light up and I noticed something about his smile that wasn't there before. For the first time it was entirely for me. It wasn't about something funny or about anything else, it was about me and just for me. A warm feeling slid up my spine and filled me from the inside out. I smiled back. We both got up and just stood in front of each other. It was one of those awkward moments when you know you've just gotten closer, but you're not sure how or if you should express it. Kissing him was out of the question, hugging too sappy, shaking his hand ridiculous, and popping his ass too 'football'. He finally started laughing and I joined in. "Good night, Kev," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. I wished I'd done it. "G'night." With that I floated back to my room and felt my head up in the clouds. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish he would come through the door and just hold me, but this was good enough. I finished washing up and lay down in the bed. The world felt just a little bit righter. ----------------------------- When the room came into focus the next morning I had that tingling excitement that you get the morning after you've finally gotten something you really wanted. It reminded me of the morning after Christmas. I usually had to think a couple seconds before whatever that item was would come into focus...this morning it came of its own accord. It even knocked. I groggily rolled over to see Clint walk in, not looking much more awake than I imagined I did. His dark hair was tussled but he'd managed to slip on a pair of flannel lounge pants. He plopped down beside me on the bed and I struggled to sit up. "You're awake?" I asked groggily. "Barely. I remembered that your car is still at work. So unless you plan on borrowing mine again, I figured I'd better give you a lift." I felt my face flush. In my haste I hadn't even really thought that it wasn't my car I was taking to the store. I had just calmly picked up the spare key off the rack in the kitchen and driven off. Ahh, the things we do in moments of great emotion. Of course, my eloquent response was, "Oops." He grinned and said, "I wondered if you'd noticed." I buried my face in the pillow and started laughing. "I'll take that as a no," he said. I nodded into the pillow. He chuckled at me and then got up. "Well, you'd better go and shower. You have to make me breakfast if I'm gonna drive you." That got my attention real quick. "Yeah, you heard me, sleepy boy. Anyway, I'm going to shower, and if you want hot water, I suggest you do the same." And with that, and classic smirk, he strolled calmly through the door to the hall bathroom to leave me staring at the wall. I couldn't help but grin. The boy did know how to get his way. I glanced at the clock and did some quick calculations. I had just enough time if I hurried. ----------------------------- Did I actually do it? Hell yeah! Breakfast was a treat around our place, so I was glad to - even if it did mean I had to cook it. I had just finished scrambling some eggs and was pulling biscuits from the oven (yes, canned) when Clint walked in all spiffed up wearing khakis and a crisp white shirt that made me want to unbutton it and lick his chest. Don't ask. I just love white shirts. "What's the occasion?" I asked. "Breakfast," he answered. "Ha ha," I said with my typical 'yeah, whatever' look. "Bitch," he said smiling. "It was clean." "Words of truth. We'll do laundry this afternoon." "Sounds good to me. I'm tired of wearing your underwear." I whipped around before I could stop myself and was met with a shit-eating grin that left me no recourse but to roll my eyes and kick myself. I put the grub on the table and proceeded to sit down. "Um, you forgot the juice, dude," said Clint. "This had better be a hell of a ride for all the work I'm putting into getting it," I said. "It always is." I cracked up. "You are such an ass." "I get what I want, too," he said. I wondered how he'd like juice down the shirt but dismissed the idea. Who did I think was going to be doing the laundry anyway?! I set a glass of OJ down in front of him and was rewarded with a goofy grin. "Thank you, Kevin." "Shut up and eat your eggs." The food had to go down a little faster than I had anticipated. Well, actually, I had forgotten to factor in the time it would take to actually **eat* the food, so it went down a lot faster. I quickly brushed my teeth and ran out the door to find Clint already waiting for me with the engine running. I tossed my briefcase in the back before plunking down in the front seat. "Slow poke," he said. "Egg breath." He smiled and backed out of the driveway. I spent most of the short ride over to the office worrying about shipments I had going out that afternoon. I just loved doing things last minute. Off-the-cuff was beginning to be my specialty. As long as the job got done fairly well, I was okay with it. "Hey, what time are you coming home?" Clint asked as we pulled in to the main parking lot. "Umm...normal time, as far as I know. Why?" "Well, I was just going to see if you wanted to go to the gym with me around 5:30 and work out that puny ass of yours." "Excuse me?" I asked, getting out and retrieving my briefcase. "There is nothing puny about this ass," I said, slapping my derriere. "Healthy, maybe...but puny, no." "Yeah, I do know what healthy is..." he quoted in his best Nutty Professor voice. I couldn't help but laugh. "Sounds good. Do you want me to meet you there?" "Absolutely. Driving two cars two blocks sounds like a **very* efficient idea to me." "Asshole. Fine then, you get to drive." "So what else is new?" he asked, playfully tossing his head. "I'll see you when I get home. Thanks for the ride." "Sure. Bye, dude." I walked the twenty feet over to the door and watched the little Audi speed off. I wished I had time to sit and think about it for a little while, but I knew I'd be spending the rest of the morning updating all my client files and going over blanket orders making sure everyone had what they needed. I also had several international shipments going out and that was a good amount of additional paperwork and time. Usually the export shipments were fairly spaced out, but this week they had all converged and I had to make sure that about two a day loaded. I just grinned and bore it. Such is life, right? I thought about the work out that afternoon and suddenly realized I'd never been to the gym with Clint. All those muscles actually in action. My crotch told me more time to think about this wouldn't really be a positive thing for my paperwork. I tried to squeeze the images out of my head and concentrate on going over the details of the shipments in my head. ----------------------------- The shipments loaded without major catastrophe or lost material and the files were now as current as I could manage. As they say, all's well that ends well. The rest of the afternoon was just paperwork and wrap-up. I had made all the calls I could, and whatever information I didn't have I was waiting on. The ball was effectively in someone else's court, so I leisurely finished everything up, packed up my stuff and made my way down to the parking lot. As I walked toward my car I glanced nonchalantly around, half hoping to spot Clint again. Alas, that's just the thing about surprises...they so rarely come when you expect them. I chuckled at myself as I dropped my briefcase in the backseat. I had just enough time to turn on the cell phone before it startled me by vibrating in my hand. I really hated when I forgot and left it on 'silent mode'. "Hello?" "Your scrawny ass on the road yet?" I balked and pulled the phone from my ear long enough to check the caller ID. 'Home' it read. "We've had this conversation already, and yes, I'm just getting in the car," I said. "Good. Just wanted to make sure you weren't gonna punk out on me." "Never..." I smiled in spite of the fact that Clint couldn't see it through the phone. "Uh huh...we'll see. See ya at home." "See ya." ----------------------------- I had just enough time to drop my keys on the table before Clint came bounding out of his room in a long-sleeve t-shirt and warm ups that looked, well, great. He replied to my 'hello' grabbing my briefcase and carrying it to my room. "You're slow. Hurry up and get dressed," he said, ignoring my salute and military- style heel click. "Oh, and wear some type of pants." "Oookay...ants in your pants?" I asked. "Any type of pants" he said, already halfway down the hall again. I cracked up and pulled on some A&F gym pants and a t-shirt and was just tying my sneakers when Clint popped back in the room. "Ready?" "Geez...yeah, yeah. Let's go. What's the big rush?" "Nothing," he said. "I just like to get there before it gets too crowded." He avoided my gaze as he dashed down the stairs, me quick on his heels. Too crowded...sure. I decided not to push it and just followed him to his car. Less than two minutes later we were walking into the gym. As we got to the front counter and swiped our cards he finally made eye contact. "Okay," I said. "So what's the **real* reason we're in such a hurry?" "We're late," he said. "For what?" I asked. "You'll see." Sure enough, his little mischievous glint was there. He had gotten better at hiding it. I'd have to be more attentive. I smirked and followed him farther in. We walked up to a second counter and I suddenly realized it was for the climbing wall in our gym. Clint saw the realization spread over my face and flashed me a big grin. I chuckled and shook my head. "You didn't waste any time, did you?" I asked. He just kept on grinning. "You said you were game, as I recall." "Oh I'm game all right," I said. "I'm just thinking that considering how you fared last time you did this, I'm gonna kick your ass." "Okay. Sure. If you say so," he said, rolling his eyes as he passed me a harness and climbing shoes. We both laughed as we pulled on the gear and walked into the glass- enclosed climbing area. We walked over to the 'bunny slope' of the climbing wall where the girl in charge insisted on repeating the basics of belaying, retraced knots, blah blah blah. I think Clint was actually impressed that I knew most of it, as I quickly tied the proper knots through his harness in an attempt to prove I knew what I was doing in hopes the chick would shut up. No such luck. She droned on and we just sat there and listened as politely as possible. I told you, this is the South -- you're polite! Once she was finally done she gave us a little smirk, probably hoped we'd fall on our asses, and left us alone. Just as well. I threaded the rope through the clip on my harness and got back far enough to where I could monitor Clint's progress. "Guess I'm going first, then," he said. "Duh. You need the practice more anyway." He smirked back at me, squared his shoulders almost imperceptibly and walked up to the face. I wondered if the scar on the inside of his thigh was burning as the thought about the last time he'd done this. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as the images flashed through my head. Clint snapped me out of memory lane by starting his climb. He expertly maneuvered his way around and quickly reached the top. I grabbed the rope and leaned back to let him back down. He turned around to look down at me. "You got me?" he asked. "Go for it," I called back up. He leaned back and pushed off and smoothly repelled down the wall. I walked up to him as he was untying the knot to pass the rope to me. "Very smooth," I said. He arched his eyebrows cockily. "And you expected less?" "Gimme the rope, punk," I said smiling. He handed me the loose end and I tied it through my own harness after unhooking the clip and passing it over to Clint. Next thing I knew I was standing in front of the face, my hands on the grips. I looked up for a second and remembered the course I had plotted while Clint was climbing. I had to take into account that he was a few inches taller than I and a good deal more built. So, I made some minor adjustments and hoped for the best. I was about half way up when I came to my first little snag. I couldn't reach the next handgrip. "Step with your right foot and you've got it, dude," Clint called from down below. I looked over and wondered how I'd missed it. I stepped over and could just grasp the grip enough to get my balance. I readjusted my footing and pushed up. It worked. I reached the top and looked down. "I've got you." I nodded with a smile before turning around and pushing off. I reached bottom easily and began untying the rope. We chitchatted for a little while before regrouping and giving the second course a try. It went as smoothly as the first for Clint, if only a couple seconds shorter. I made better mental notes about how tall I actually was and tried to map out where I was going to go when I was up. It seemed to pay off because I reached the top more easily than I had on the first course. When I got down my forearms were pumped and tight. It was a great feeling. I could really get used to this. "Nice job, Kev," said Clint. "Thanks," I said. "I think that's it for me, though. My legs are fine but I'm still trying to pull with my arms too much." He nodded. "Yeah, I was noticing that." "You want to try the next one?" I asked, nodding toward the next course, which looked significantly more difficult. "Nah. I think I'm just going to do this one again," he said. "Do you mind?" I smiled. "Nope. Like I said, you..." "Need the practice," he finished. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up," he said rolling his eyes and playfully bumping past me. I chuckled and backed up and took up the slack in the rope. He was a few feet up when I noticed how the muscles in his arms rippled when he gripped and there was something so definitely masculine about the way he climbed. He looked like he should be in a commercial or something for climbing gear. His warm-ups clung to his legs and every curve was accentuated. I took another deep breath and let it out quickly, almost sighing. I kept taking up the slack as Clint climbed higher. He finally stopped for a few seconds, presumably to rest, and I took the chance to glance around and see who else was in the room with us. The instructor chick was over on our right hooking up a lanky looking teenager, who appeared to be enjoying the attention. I grinned in spite of myself and turned my head to see who was on the left. I was met with a pair of eyes locked onto mine. It startled me and I felt my face turn red before I could stop myself. The guy was slim, looked to be maybe in his sophomore or junior year in college and was belaying another frat-boy looking guy. Neither was to scoff at; the first had short brown hair and wide set blue eyes. He was very boyish, but there was something in his look that wasn't boyish at all. He smiled and mouthed a quick 'Hi', which I reciprocated before turning my attention back to Clint who was just reaching the top. "Okay, let me down," he said. "Not getting tired, are you?" I called back up, smiling at him as I let the rope out. He repelled down and started undoing the harness almost as soon as his feet hit ground. "You okay?" I asked. "Yeah, just ready to get out of this," he said. "It's a little, um, constricting," he said glancing down toward his groin. I laughed and remembered the first time I had come climbing. The girl I was belaying was about my weight and I hadn't realized there was a better way to stand than straight up. I remembered feeling this sudden sharp pain that spread from my balls up to my stomach and just about puking. I told Clint about it as we stepped out of the gear and took it back to the counter. We both laughed about it as we laced up our tennis shoes on the little bench beside the counter. "So, you ready to do some cardio or something?" I asked. Clint's eyebrows raised and he made a surprised expression. "Well, aren't you just mister eager beaver?" he said laughingly. "Sure. Why not?" I punched him in the arm before taking off up the stairs to where I knew the cardio machines were. I got about half a flight up when I suddenly felt like a little kid and stopped. The next thing I knew the back of my shirt was pulled over my head and I was sitting on a stair, hearing Clint's laughter and quick footsteps as he passed me. I couldn't help but laugh as I untangled myself. I was beat red and just ran the rest of the stairs. Clint was literally doubled over with laughter when I got to the top of the stairs. I just shook my head at him. "Hey, don't shake your head at me," he said, making fun of me. "**You* started it." "But Moooommmm...**HE* started it," I said as we started walking toward the cardio machines. Clint just pushed me as we kept laughing. "So, how much are you going to do?" he asked. "I dunno. Probably about forty-five minutes or so." Clint nodded and looked down at his watch. "Sounds good. Did you want to do the whole hot tub thing?" My eyes flicked over to him as I adjusted the settings on the stair climber. "Um, sure. That's cool." "Okay. Well, let's just plan to meet down there at seven." "That'll work," I said. He nodded with a little smile and walked off to start on the treadmill. Knowing Clint, he'd probably still work in a short weight workout. He was a diehard, which I guess was just as well. I definitely wasn't complaining about the results. I stepped up the intensity on the stair-climber and pretty soon was breathing deeply and enjoying the feeling of my muscles working. I usually kept my workouts pretty strenuous. It was fantastic for working through daily stresses. Our gym was also well equipped for keeping your mind off the rather mundane task of climbing untold numbers of imaginary stairs. The entire cardio section faced a wall that housed about six TVs and as many CD changers. You could enjoy whatever you wanted with a nifty pair of earphones. Between all the screens, I could usually find something worthwhile to watch, whether the latest music video by whatever artist, the news report - though those were hardly motivating - or, if I was lucky and stayed late enough, a sitcom. It was still too early for a sitcom and country music CDs dominated the changers, so I resigned myself to switching back and forth between VH1, whose videos I had already seen or wasn't interested in, and the only thing showing on ESPN -- golf. Are we having fun yet? Movement on the machine to my left caught my eye and I glanced over. There, perched on top of the adjacent stair-master was the same guy I had seen down at the climbing wall. He obviously recognized me too because he pulled off his earphones as he finished adjusting the settings and began climbing. "Hey again," he said. "How's it going?" I replied. "I'm Noah," said the young guy, reaching awkwardly across his machine to extend his hand for me to shake. I laughed and somehow we managed to shake hands without falling off the machines. "Kevin McReardon," I said, gripping his hand. "Nice to meet you." "You too," he said. "So, how long have you been climbing?" "Tonight was the first time we came together. I guess I've been a few times before, though," I said. "Oh. Well, you guys looked like you had been doing it together for a while," he said. "Um...climbing, that is," he added and blushed. I chuckled. "Thanks, I guess. Nah, we're amateurs. My roommate, Clint, decided he'd try rock climbing a while back without training and we pretty quickly realized that was a bad thing." "Oh really?" he asked. "Let's just say an emergency trip to the hospital and a few weeks off his feet, for the most part, finally did the convincing." "Ouch!!" he said, grimacing. "Yeah, to say the least. Today we finally decided to give the wall a try," I said. "It's pretty nice. They change up the courses pretty regularly to keep you guessing, and they have classes too." "Oh really?" I asked. "That's cool. We'll have to check those out." He gave me a quick once-over that was all too obvious. I chuckled. "It was nice meeting you, Kevin," he said. "Yeah man. See you around," I said. I looked down and was surprised that I only had five minutes left of my workout. I glanced up at the clock on the wall above the TVs and noticed that 7 was still fifteen minutes away. I'd have to go track Clint down early and see if he was about done. The machine beeped and I eagerly stepped off. I do enjoy working out, but it's always nice when it's over. I walked over to the water fountain to try to replenish some of the water I had lost. I also grabbed a towel and dabbed my dripping brow. My shirt was positively soaked. Nothing like a good sweat to make you feel refreshed. I glanced back toward the stair-masters and Noah was looking straight at me. I nodded and headed off. I trotted around the track a couple times to cool off and spotted Clint doing military presses on my second time through. I did one more lap and stopped over where he was. Between when he'd left me and the time he'd started doing weights he had evidently changed. He was wearing an orange tank instead of the long-sleeved tee I'd seen him in earlier. It brought his shoulders into high relief. His workouts had been stupendous, judging by his body. I hadn't noticed that his biceps had gotten fuller and his shoulders were massive. Each striation chiseled tiny valleys down his arm, and the thin sheen of sweat made it look like he was greased up for competition. He spotted me as I walked up and flashed me a tired and almost relieved smile. "Good workout?" he asked. "Definitely. Dude, you have gotten huge," I said, squeezing his shoulder. The muscle was full and hard under my touch. He looked up at me and smiled an innocently smug smile. "You said you wondered where I'd been since Christi and I broke up..." "Need I have even asked?" I said grinning. "Whatever," he said. "You ready to hit the hot tub?" "Been ready since you brought it up." He scowled at me and pursed his lips together like he was ashamed of me. "Well, c'mon then, since you're not a for-real gym rat." I just raised an eyebrow and stared at him. He finally broke a sheepish grin. "Me too." I laughed and followed him along the rest of the track as we both cooled off for a few laps while recounting the highlights of our workouts and what was on TV. There was nothing really worth mentioning, but we talked about it all the same. It was so refreshing to just be able to talk like always, like life wasn't some complicated monster, like best friends. We jogged down the stairs and into the locker room laughing and joking all the way down. These were the moments. Clint opened his locker as I headed to pee. Working out, or rather all the water I consumed, always had nature knocking at my doorstep as soon as I hit the locker room. I briefly wondered if I were turning into some sort of freakish Pavlov's dog, but quickly decided I was just being overly thoughtful. I laughed at myself as I walked back in the locker room. Clint had already slipped into some onionskin red shorts and had lost the tank. I kicked myself for missing the show. We traded places as he headed to the urinals. I changed and we met halfway and walked over to the sauna and steam room area. I we had just opened the door when I realized I hadn't grabbed a towel. I turned around to back and get one. "Forget something?" Clint asked. I spun around to tell him I'd forgotten the towel when I saw him holding two towels out in front of him. I just laughed and took the towel from him. "Sometimes I think you know me too well," I said. "Yeah, well, lucky for you." "Uh huh. Whatever," I said as he dipped his foot into the swirling water before slowly letting himself in. I followed suit and soon we were leaning against the edge letting the hot water ease away workout strains and all the other stresses, neither of us saying a word. I leaned my head back and propped my arms on the cool tile behind me. "More fun last time, huh?" Clint asked. "What's that?" I asked, not bothering to open my eyes. "It was more fun at my house." I smiled broadly. "Oh yeah. No comparison." I opened my eyes to see Clint reclined just like me, head resting on the wet floor. I remembered being in the same poses back at the huge poolroom at the Tuckers'. I thought about Dan and smiled. "What're you smiling about?" he asked. "Just remembering. It was an awesome weekend." Clint just nodded. The heat was starting to get to me and my skin was starting to turn red. I learned a while back not to ignore this feeling, so I stood up and got out. "You okay?" Clint asked. "Yeah. Just got a little overheated. I'm gonna hit the showers." "I'll catch up with you in a second." I nodded and padded wetly into the shower room. There were a few showers going. The room basically consisted of a series of showerheads all around and built in partitions, but no shower curtains or anything of the sort. It was ridiculous because the showers all faced not only each other, but a wide open space in the middle of the room. Not that privacy was an issue in a gym shower, but I still thought it was a stupid design -- like the architect had some idea of how it would look in his head, and then when he actually saw it he felt stupid for not thinking it through. I hung the towel on a hook outside one of the showers and walked over to the little spin-dry machine. It was a pretty spiffy little contraption. I slid off my suit and stuffed it into the metal container on the inside. I pressed down the lid and it used centrifugal force to wring the water from it. I pulled it out several seconds later and it was just damp. Not too bad at all. I hung it on a second hook and turned on the shower. I turned around and noticed Noah showering across from the stall I had picked. He was all lathered up and the water was running down his back, rinsing white foam over the smooth globes of his ass. I quickly glanced up to see him smiling at me. I'd been caught. I blushed and turned on the water. "Have a good soak?" he asked. "Yeah. It was nice," I said. "I was just finishing up here," he said before turning around to face me. He was basically hairless on the front, from what I could tell, except for a happy trail that led down to a nice looking uncut cock. He had intended for me to look, and I had. I felt stupid and leaned my head forward to let the water wet down my hair and run over my face. "See you around, Kevin." "Yeah, man. Later," I said without looking back up. I heard him switch the shower off and presumably leave. By the time I had finished lathering and rinsing my hair he was gone. He wasn't unpleasant to look at, but I really didn't need life to get any more complicated. I resolved to keep things on the up-and-up and, more immediately, to enjoy the water rinsing the chlorine off my skin. The sound of the little centrifuge machine running finally got my attention and I looked over to see Clint standing there pressing the lid down. He looked as impressive as always, and I just never got used to seeing him nude. The way his wide back tapered down to a slender waist, the way his legs bulged when he shifted...it still made my heart beat a little faster. But it was more than just his body that made my breath catch, it was Clint. It was the way he stood there, spectacular, unassuming, gorgeous. He pulled his suit out and I ducked my head back under the water before he turned around. He was in his own little world as he wandered over to a shower a couple of stalls diagonal to me. I could still see him, but evidently he hadn't spotted me. He turned on the shower and let the water wash over him. He squirted some of the all-purpose shampoo/soap from the dispenser in the shower and soon his jet black hair disappeared in bubbles. He turned around, leaned his head back and let the water rinse out the shampoo and wash over his face. He made me ache. I switched off the shower and knotted the towel around my waist before going back to the locker room around the opposite corner, so he wouldn't see me. The abrupt drop in temperature in the locker room quickly distracted me as I found my clothes and changed. I was just putting on my deodorant when Clint came sauntering out. "Oh hey! There you are," he said. I smiled and slid on a clean t-shirt. "Yup. Enjoy the tub?" "Yeah. I love doing that," he said, toweling off and sliding into a pair of gray boxer briefs. I watched the way the cotton slid over his skin and wondered how anybody could make the most mundane thing seem so special. I sat down on the bench and waited for him to finish getting dressed. "So, how do you think the Tigers are gonna do this weekend?" he asked. "I don't know, man. As much as I'd like them to win, I have to think it's going to be a toss-up." "I know. I'll deny it if you quote me, but I'll be surprised if they pull it out. Their defensive line is just weak this year." We kept on talking about the championship game that weekend and at some point I stopped listening to Clint's commentary and was just looking at him and enjoying being with him. I finally descended back to reality and noticed a crooked smile aimed at me. Clint was just standing in front of me, watching me, knowing look cutting preemptively through any excuse I could come up with. I returned the look and chuckled. Clint grabbed his back and walked around behind me before I felt his hand resting on my neck. "C'mon. Let's go home," he said. ----------------------------- At long last!!! I can't say thank you enough to all of you who have written. I fear I will NEVER get to all the e-mails, so I will apologize here and now, and tell you that this is for you. I had reached a point where I didn't know where else to go with the story...had said what I wanted to say. A lot has happened since, and the muse had finally returned. You are the best!!! Let me know if you're still reading. Kevin farscape20@hotmail.com