Over a week had gone by and, unfortunately, Michael hadn’t changed his mind. Although logic tried to tell him how unlikely it was that Andres would say yes, Michael wanted to ask him out anyway. Something about Andres made Michael impulsive, maybe a bit desperate. All he knew for sure was that even if he failed, he wanted to at least try.

At home or when Michael had breaks during work, he would spend time looking into what he and Andres could do for a date. He searched through internet articles and Pinterest boards before he finally found the perfect thing. Andres had always been vocal about his love of music and R&B vocalists. And Michael found out that Ella Mai was having a concert next month. The chances of Andres saying yes to a date would drastically increase if the date came with concert tickets. 

Then, with the tickets purchased, Michael had a month to ask Andres out. This was the one thing on Michael’s mind every time he saw Andres. Several scenes of how he would do it played in his mind. Maybe, after they worked out side by side, Andres would start to wipe himself down and Michael would take the towel from him.

“Let me do it.” Michael would say. 

As Michael wiped down Andres’s beautiful sweaty abs, he would say. “Andres, will you go out with me?”

Daydreaming about how he would ask Andres out seemed like fun and games until Michael was cooling down and he hadn’t said a word to Andres about a date. The Michael in his head was always way more confident and had an easy time bearing his soul to Andres. Real Michael on the other hand, was a bit more of a coward.

I can just do it tomorrow, Michael thought to himself. Maybe I’ll do it as he’s bench-pressing so it takes longer for him to say no.

Michael was stretching as he thought of the different ways he could do it the next day but was suddenly interrupted by the man himself stepping in front of his yoga mat. Michael looked up at Andres, stepping out of his lunge to stand at his full height. The black man was a bit taller than Andres, so he could clearly see the sheen of sweat still lingering on the other man’s forehead from his workout and the ways some strands of his brown hair stuck to his skin.

“Hey Michael,” Andres smiled. “Are you almost done for today?”

His hands were tucked as deep into his shorts pockets as they could go and his arms were a bit more tense than usual. Michael almost thought that he was nervous but the thought left him as soon as it came.

“Yeah, almost,” Michael told him. “I’m just cooling down then I’ll be finished.”

“Oh, weren’t you working on legs today?”

“Yeah, I’m focusing my stretches on my thighs and calves since I worked them the hardest,” Michael replied, absentmindedly looking down at his legs. 

“What about your hip flexors? It’s important to keep those joints healthy as well,” Andres commented. Michael blinked in surprise. This was one of the issues with being friends with a personal trainer. He would constantly mention terms and jargon that Michael had never heard of and Michael just had to go along with it.

“Umm, I don’t think I know any stretches for hip flexors,” Michael said slowly, taking great care to pronounce this new term correctly. Frankly, he hadn’t even heard of hip flexors before so he certainly didn’t know how to cool them down.

As usual, Andres seemed pleased to have something to teach Michael. His eyes lit up and he started rubbing his hands together in preparation for what he planned to do to him.

“Here, I’ll show you one,” Andres said with a smile. “Lay down. Extend your right leg fully and try to bring your left knee to your chest.”

Michael did as Andres asked, sighing softly when his back hit the cold mat. His soft sigh turned into a sharp gasp when he felt Andres’s hands pressing into his legs and Andres’ body leaning into his own. He was holding Michael’s legs apart and pushing his body weight into Michael’s lifted knee, furthering the stretch. 

“Is that okay?” Andres grunted, biting his bottom lip in concentration.

Michael couldn’t do much more than nod. This stretch felt very intimate and it seemed like anything he did would draw attention to that fact. Andres, on the other hand, was oblivious to Michael’s discomfort. 

“Alright,” Andres sighed, pulling away. “Now onto the other side.”

Looking at Andres wasn’t even an option at this point. The mixed man tried to zero in on the sound of exercise machines instead of Andres’s breathing right in front of him. 

“So, you doing anything interesting tonight?” Andres asked as he pushed Michael’s knee further into his chest. Michael wanted to laugh. Of course, Andres thought this was a good time to make small talk.

“Uh yeah, my friends are taking me clubbing,” Michael said, laughing a bit at the entire situation. 

“Clubbing?” Andres repeated, his smile widening. “I didn’t pin you as the type.”

“I’m not!” 

Both of them laughed over the sentiment because it was true: Michael was not the type. 

“Honestly, this will be the first time I go to a club since I broke up with my ex-boyfriend,” He added, smiling wistfully at the ceiling. “And that was a while ago.”

Andres, who had been steadily applying pressure to Michael’s leg, paused. His eyes stayed pinned to a spot on Michael’s chest. For a moment, he didn’t seem to breathe.

“Andres?”

His voice seemed to snap Andres out of it somewhat. But, when Andres looked at Michael again, he seemed conflicted. Was he . . . guilty? Michael was suddenly hit with a wave of anxiety and he reached out to touch Andres’s shoulder.

“Andres-”

Andres stood up suddenly. As he peeled himself off of him and adjusted his clothes, Michael was laying down, stunned as he watched. He could feel the wall Andres put up and breaking suddenly seemed impossible. 

“Uh, I’m sorry but, I forgot I had to be home to receive a package but I’ll see you later?”

He barely waited for Michael’s affirmative nod. Andres rushed out of the gym and all Michael could do was watch. 

What the hell had just happened?

—————

Michael had hoped that would end there but things were never the same. In the days that followed, Andres always felt distant. It was like the light that made him shine from the inside out suddenly dimmed. Their conversations grew stale and months of connection disappeared in an instant. He could tell that Andres had something on his mind but the entire situation was still sad. The most obvious difference was how Andres didn’t touch him anymore. A touch on his hand, a brush against his back, a hand on his shoulder, no amount of physical contact was allowed. It wasn’t blatant in any way. Michael could just tell and couldn’t let it go. 

Still, Michael wouldn’t give up. He kept starting those difficult conversations, asking for help even when he didn’t need it. Even as the tips and tricks lost Andres’s personal touch, Michael exercised them with vigor, finding each and every opportunity to use them to talk to his friend. But Andres doesn’t bite, keeping his responses curt and his hands off of Michael. 

Michael wanted to hope for the best, but the facts were too clear. Andres had pulled away when he mentioned having an ex-boyfriend. And, as the days rolled by, Micheal began to take Andres’s behavior as a sign that he wasn’t into men. Or, at the very least, wasn’t into him. He wasn’t an extremely confident person to begin with and getting to this point came from all of the validation his self-improvement and Andres had given him. Now, he was getting used to the physical changes and Andres was distant. 

And amidst all of that uncertainty, here was Michael, holding onto a set of Ella Mai tickets. There wasn’t an idiot in the world who would ask Andres out when things were so rocky. As time went on, asking Andres out seemed like more and more of a bad idea. 

Michael went into the gym that day, a week since Andres had touched him last, dejected. His goal was to simply endure: get through his workout and improve himself. Thinking about the model rowing a few feet away only made his mood worse. Love was funny, wasn’t it? The same man Michael had spent hours thinking about was the target of his muttered curses.

His peripheral vision allowed Michael to keep an eye on Andres as he worked while pretending to be looking at anything but. His rowing seemed quite intense today. Sweat flowed generously down his back and his chest lifted and lowered rapidly with each breath. Michael was nearly through with his warm as Andres finished, almost gasping when he climbed off the rowing machine. 

Worry replaced his irritation and Michael decided to go over and check on him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Michael’s hand instinctively rested on Andres’s back to comfort him. His hands were on his knees while he heaved but he still took the time to move, disconnecting Michael’s hand from his skin. It hurt, yes, but Michael was worried more. He handed Andres his water bottle and after a few sips, his breathing went back to normal.

“Sorry, I guess I went too hard,” Andres told Michael with a small smile. He tried to laugh but it was a bit too breathy to pass as one. 

“You really shouldn’t waste your energy on talking,” Michael replied, crossing his arms sternly. “Rest.”

Andres rolled his eyes but didn’t speak, making Michael smile. He returned to his mat to stretch but kept an eye on Andres. He got the idea in his head that Andres might push himself too hard again today. The worry erased Michael’s discretion and Andres quickly noticed his stare.

He was shirtless, of course, and began to flex his abs. Watching Andres’s muscles clench up was like watching a transformer reassemble its parts. Michael couldn’t pull his eyes away. Andres was laughing now, immensely enjoying Michael’s reaction.

“Dick,” Michael whispered to himself, laughing along. 

Andres walked over to the mirror next, using it and his towel to wipe himself dry. Any spot that appeared shiny was assumed to carry sweat and Andres was quick but meticulous in removing all of it. While working on his abs he spotted a man behind him staring intensely at his body. Michael had no way of knowing if it came from admiration, jealousy, or lust. Still, he took the time to slip his shirt back on. The shirt also exposed obscene amounts of skin but having it on made Andres feel better.

From his place at the yoga mat, Michael watched this entire interaction. Frankly, it perplexed him. Whenever Andres caught him staring, he would flex, pose, and in general give him more to look at, not less. Michael was not getting hopeful, right? One tiny little interaction would not make him consider that maybe the feelings aren’t one-sided. Or would it? At the very least, this reminds Michael that Andres cares about him. 

They are friends, regardless of how weird things had gotten. Andres was a nice, considerate, caring guy. Would he really stomp all over Michael’s feelings even if he didn’t feel the same? 

Those words bounced around Michael’s mind for the next hour. It was an idea he just couldn’t shake. After a week of feeling completely hopeless, this sudden hope was the spark he needed. Michael’s cool-down was done and he found nothing else he could add to lengthen his time at the gym. He packed his bag slowly that day. Each item took twice the amount of time to go in. His breathing was heavy and loud. Too loud. When did his heartbeat grow so strong?

Suddenly he was standing up, workout finished, things packed, and nothing to do but ask Andres out. What? When did he decide to do that? Michael’s feet carried him swiftly to Andres’s side even though he couldn’t decide if he wanted to do this or not.

He got closer. Andres looked up and caught his eye. He smiled. Michael smiled back. Michael walked past him. 

Okay, he wasn’t going to do it.

But, a part of him wouldn’t let it go. Intuition, conscience, bad indigestion, whatever you want to call it, made him stop. He turned back around very slowly. If he didn’t look awkward before, he was going to look very weird now that he was backtracking. 

Andres was confused, rightly so, at the sight of Michael coming back.

“Hey, Andres. Um, do you want to go out with me?”

For a moment, Andres’s face didn’t change. He stared at Michael blanking, not saying a word.

“On a date I mean,” Michael added, chuckling lightly. “I know I’m probably not your usual type but I have these Ella Mai tickets for next month and it will be fun. Plus, I’m pretty good company.”

“You’re serious?” Andres pressed, his brows drawing together.

“Very.”

Michael didn’t back down, didn’t try to shy away from what he really meant. His heart was in his throat and somehow he stayed standing still. A slow smile blossomed on Andres’s face, completely taking Michael by surprise. He was happy?

“I would love to go to the concert but, I don’t want to wait that long for a date,” He told Michael.  Andres stepped up closer to the taller man, his smile matching the gleam in his eye. “What about dinner tonight? My place?”

“I thought you didn’t like me,” was Michael’s first response. Andres was getting closer now, closer than he’d been in a week, closer than any friend would be. “You’ve been kind of avoiding me this past week.”

That was enough to get the smile to fall off Andres’s face. 

“To be honest,” he began, eyes flittering over Michael’s face, “I became friends with you assuming nothing would happen. You were hot and nice so the straight idea in my head was what reminded me to not catch feelings. Then you said you dated a man and I suddenly got terrified that I would fuck this up.”

He smiled then, the expression on his face unable to mask how much he adored the man in front of him. 

“I wanted to control my feelings before I got closer to you again. The problem was that it was too late. I already have the biggest crush on you.”

Michael just had to laugh. Of course, the Instagram model would have the worst way of dealing with a genuine crush. He wrapped his arms around Andres’s shoulders, dragging him into a hug. He was elated when Andres returned it. He squeezed him so hard it was almost painful. But it wasn’t, it was more comforting than anything. Michael leaned into it, even when it occurred to him that they were standing in a fairly busy public gym. The embarrassment rolled off of his back, easily forgotten. 

“I honestly respect you a lot, Andres,” Michael told him, speaking into the whisps of the shorter man’s hair. “But next time, a simple ‘I’m in love with you!’ would have sufficed.”

“Oh shut up!” 

Andres laughed, throwing his head back obnoxiously even as he held tightly onto Michael. They were laughing and hugging and making utter fools of themselves. But they liked each other and, for once, Michael was going to forget appearances and doing what people thought was right. He was going out to dinner with this wonderful man and he was going to enjoy every second.