“If you pull it the right way you should feel it in your back. Try it, see how it feels.”

Michael, with his hands wrapped around the bottom of the twin pair of metal bars, pulled his elbows back and felt his back tense.

“Yup, I think that worked.” Michael groaned. His neck grew tight from the strain and his elbows began to shake from the effort. Andres merely laughed at Michael’s agony.

“Okay, I think we can lower the weight. You have to be able to get more than one rep in.” Andres chuckled as he adjusted the load. Michael, who was still trying to recover from the attack on his muscles, laughed.

“Oh. That makes sense.”

A few minutes later, Michael was getting in his tenth rep. It wasn’t easy by any means, but he was proud that he was getting so many of them done. Over the past few months, he’d come to enjoy the feeling of challenging his body and found so many signs that he was growing more fit and athletic. A major sign was the fact that he was completing his reps at the same speed as Andres who was working beside him.

At first, Andres simply gave Michael advice on the workouts he was completing then went off to do his own thing. Less than a month ago, however, he’d suggested that Michael start working out with him. He didn’t give Michael the exact same workout of course. Andres was far more advanced with years of training and practice and was at a level Michael could only dream of achieving. However, as long as Andres modified the moves to fit Michael, they got to work out together.

Michael looked over at Andres. His face was set into a soft scowl as he stared up at the ceiling, keenly focused and concentrated on the task at hand. His lips were moving softly, and Michael watched in confusion for a moment before he realized that Andres was silently counting his reps. He maintained a steady rhythm as he worked, his muscles bulging with each movement.

Michael’s face grew warm. He really had to stop checking this guy out. There was plenty of opportunity for it, of course. Andres looked great when he worked out, all sweaty and serious, but if Michael didn’t reign in his wandering eyes, Andres would start to notice.

After another minute, they finished all the reps and let their arms fall to their sides. Michael flexed his hands experimentally a couple of times; squeezing his fingers around the bars for so long had almost fixed them into that position. The more he thought about the discomfort, the less he felt like doing anything else.

So, Michael turned to Andres. He was an easy source of distraction, something eye-catching right after a workout. And Andres didn’t disappoint. He got up off of the seat, slowly walking away from the machine while he rolled his shoulders back. His muscles rippled with motion, his sweat highlighting every curve and contour. Unconsciously, Michael swallowed. Maybe Andres was too good of a distraction. 

Painfully, Michael brought his eyes back up to Andres's face which wasn’t much better. Now Michael took in the flush of his skin, the way his hair pressed against his temple and neck, the soft expression created by his half-lidded eyes. Then, those dark brown eyes shifted and were suddenly staring back.

Michael blinked.

“Uh . . . ”

He was panicking.

“I have a question.” No, he didn’t. “What do you eat to stay lean? I heard that your diet is even more important than fitness for weight loss. Since you’re in such good shape, I wanted to know what you did.”

Michael wasn’t even sure where that came from. He’d never planned to ask Andres that today yet it was the first thing that came to mind. Andres was pleasantly surprised, his face perked up and he turned to Michael with a sense of enthusiasm.

“Well, when I first started watching my diet I calorie tracked so I watched how many calories I ate, what type of calories I was eating so how many carbs, how much protein, fiber, etc,” Andres said, receiving small nods from Michael. “If you don’t get too caught up in the numbers it can be a helpful tool.”

“Oh yeah, I got one of those apps last week,” Michael commented. “It’s kind of scary to look at how many calories are in the smallest things. Like muffins?! Oh my God.”

Andres and Michael laughed.

“Honestly, I’ve had to train myself not to think about it sometimes.” Andres joked. He had closed some of the distance between them and now stood a foot away from Michael. Noticing the moisture on his body, Andres grabbed his towel from his pocket and began wiping at his face, then chest, then stomach, all while he continued to speak.

“Being happy is a lot more important than being healthy in my books.” He commented. “Honestly, that’s why I still cover my eggs in cheese.”

“Cheesy eggs. Nice.” Michael smiled. “For me, I still cook my eggs in bacon grease.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve eaten them like that since I was a kid. The flavor is just too good.” Michael explained with a blissful sigh. Andres stared down at him with a confused smile.

“I’m not sure if I should try that or avoid that.” He chuckled, shaking his head softly. “And I thought my weekly pizza pie was bad.”

“Pizza pie?” Michael repeated, brows raised in shock. “You call it a pie?” 

“Yes, I do,” Andres stated.

Michael was so incredulous that he stood up from the machine, coming face to face with Andres. For once, though, he wasn’t paying attention to Andres’s looks. In Andres’s eyes, Michael saw a weird little man who made him laugh, brought his muscles pain, and called pizzas pies.

“That’s what Italians call it,” Andres explained. He was grinning now. The cheeky fucker. Michael just knew that Andres loved getting him all worked up. Michael didn’t know that his eyes had narrowed, that his cheeks were puffing up, or that he’d gotten this close to Andres’s body. He stayed focused on Andres's mouth and the insanity spewing out of it.

“But we’re not in Italy,” Michael argued, gesturing to the very American gym they were in. “And our pizzas definitely can not be called Italian.”

“You know what, I’ll take you there,” Andres stated, smiling widely. “You can judge for yourself if it’s authentic.”

Michael paused for a moment. The invitation was not expected, but not unwelcome. A slow smile spread across his cheeks.

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.”

—————

Michael’s relationship with Andres developed in a way he never expected. The two were from completely different worlds: Andres from the world of beauty and fitness while Michael worked in the background, editing images for campaigns that helped people like Andres be in the spotlight. But over the next few weeks, they kind of became . . . friends?

When Michael went to the gym, he never left without at least saying hi to Andres. Most days when he went, they would work out side by side. Moreover, in between reps and moves, they would often spark up conversations about anything from fitness goals to new movies they planned to watch.

Without even trying to, Michael was getting closer and closer to a guy he deemed as completely untouchable. And as a result, he learned that he may like his personality a little bit too much. 

It was one thing to like the man’s looks, they were simply undeniable. Before, Michael had no desire to do anything with the attraction because he’d only seen Andres as a pretty face. The issues came when Michael got to know him.

Some of his assumptions about the man had been correct: he was cocky and self-involved, putting in extensive effort into his physique and health. He took a shit ton of selfies which was a bit concerning. Half of the time Michael looked over at him, Andres was posing in front of the mirror, showing off his freshly pumped muscles. Furthermore, anytime he caught Michael looking at him, he would send him this smirk. Whether Michael was or not, Andres assumed Michael was checking him out and would turn his body to give Michael a better angle. Michael understood what he was silently trying to say. You like the view?

On the other hand, he also had a surprising amount of depth. For one, he was a great listener. Whether Michael was asking him a question or telling him about his day, Andres was careful to listen attentively. He was also super funny. One of his favorite things to do was make Michael laugh so hard that others in the gym stared. It was a running thing between them. Andres would say something stupid, Michael would laugh, then Michael would curse him out for doing it while pretending to be upset. He never was though. 

Andres was, over time, proving to kind of be more mature than Michael too. He was very understanding and accepting. Michael was uncoordinated and new to the gym, so he struggled a lot every time he went, yet Andres never judged him for it. Instead, he was patient. It didn’t make any sense, really. Andres must have had other things to do, or at the very least didn’t want to make his extensive workout any longer than necessary. But Andres never rushed him, he would help him over and over again until Michael understood.

And, if that wasn’t already enough, Andres liked RnB. They exchanged many artist recommendations and kept each other up to date on new releases. All of Michael’s other friends were pop people so they didn’t have an appreciation for most RnB.

Michael found himself increasingly talking to Andres about things other than workouts and it was kind of scaring him. Andres wasn’t just some pretty face. He was a multifaceted human being that was really nice to be around. He was honestly amazing.

Michael liked him.

This sucked.

Attraction and feelings were two very different realms and Michael had crossed the line so easily, it made him a little bit upset. Really, this entire situation made him upset. After not getting into the dating game for so long, the last person he needed to be crushing on was the fitness model. Literally, anyone other than the fitness model would do. 

Anyone else might have been interested if Michael asked them out. Anyone else could have seen Michael as an option. From his place curled up on his living room couch, Michael pulled out his phone and turned on his camera. If Michael wanted to improve his confidence, this angle was not helping. He already did not have a very strong jaw. In an attempt to fix this issue, he’d lined his short beard to shape his jawline at the bottom but this position pushed the skin around his neck forward, ruining his work. 

He did have kind eyes, Michael observed, clear and dark with long lashes framing them. The most prominent feature on his face, though, was surely his mouth. He had full lips, framed by his beard that stretched into a broad smile covering most of the bottom half of his face while not affecting his eyes much. The resulting effect was that Michael often spoke with a smile on his face, but it did not seem excessive or odd. All of his exes told him it was the most attractive thing about him and Michael grew to believe them.

He wasn’t bad looking by any standard, but he knew someone like Andres would need far more. Andres needed someone who looked like him, fit and attractive, capable of modeling alongside him for the rest of their lives. Michael now felt rejected even though Andres had no chance to give him a real response.

Looking down, Michael smoothed a hand over his stomach. It might seem odd to some that Michael was staring down at his own body like that, confused. He was confused actually. He was wearing one of his favorite shirts, a dark blue button-up with small boats on it. It fit him just perfectly, fitted around his chest without fully hugging his plump stomach. But, the shirt didn’t fit perfectly anymore. It was too big. It wasn’t a huge change. If Michael went out with it on, he doubted anyone else would comment on the fit. But, compared to how it had been fitting Michael for the past year, this was really weird.

Luckily, one of the benefits of living alone was that Michael could do whatever he wanted. So, he lifted up his shirt to stare down at his plump stomach. But for some reason, his stomach wasn’t as plump as usual. 

Michael’s attractive smile appeared on his face again, brightening his expression. He may not look very different, still looking unfit and unsuited for the gym, still avoiding going shirtless to the beach, but Michael was changing. 

His effort and work were making a difference. 

Like a pregnant woman would with her unborn child, Michael began to rub his stomach fondly. It’s funny, he never noticed how beautiful his stomach was before. With its excess layers of fat and areas of oddly stretched skin, it was far from perfect, but Michael was growing to love its appearance. 

Maybe Michael would never get a guy like Andres interested in him. Maybe Andres really only dated models and gym rats. But, Michael believed, from the bottom of his heart, that he was hot. That was something Andres could never take from him. So maybe, if Michael asked him out, Andres would say yes.

Michael jumped, nearly falling off of his couch in surprise. 

Was he going to ask Andres out? He wondered, looking around the room and attempting to find an answer. Yet, no matter where he looked, the answer was always the same.

Maybe working out was doing a bit too much good to Michael’s confidence. Or maybe he cared about Andres more than he thought. Either way, Michael was now planning out how he was going to ask his fitness model friend out and was unlikely to stop.