Chapter 26 #2
“Course you’ll get it. You always do.” Danny says this last part softly, admiringly, and Sasha flushes under the sunbeam of his gaze, feeling embarrassed and motivated and just a little proud of himself all at once. This—this was what he had imagined working out with Danny would be like.
He would have forgotten that they weren’t alone in the gym if Coach Garrett hadn’t cleared his throat. “All right, Danny, you want to do a few more and then we’ll focus on the rest of your routine?”
*
Once Danny’s actually on the equipment, he puts in the work, grinding through the repetitions in between debriefing sessions with Coach Garrett.
And although he can’t seem to stop himself from whisper-commentating on Sasha’s routines (“Oh my God, I wanna marry that Makuts”), Sasha discovers that if he specifically asks for feedback, Danny almost always has a helpful suggestion. Plus an anecdote or two or three.
It’s still not quite what he’d expected, and he’s surprised by how passive Danny is about his own workout, following Sasha around from apparatus to apparatus without seeming to have any personal goals for the day.
Even when Sasha wants to go to vault, hesitating only because of Danny’s ankle, Danny tells him, “Nah, go for it. I’ll just do some conditioning and watch you. ”
But the weirdest part is when Coach Garrett proposes going to high bar, and Danny shrugs and says, “Not really feeling it today.”
Sasha tries not to show his disappointment, but he’s still brooding when the practice ends, and he’s glad Danny starts texting someone in the parking lot so he doesn’t have to worry about whatever his face is doing.
He’s annoyed at Danny, and also himself, for all his stupid fantasies about their workouts together.
He’d thought watching Danny train would be as awe-inspiring as watching him compete, that Danny would challenge him just to keep up; he’d thought he would go back to Round Lake more motivated than ever, that much closer to mastering the skills on his list.
Instead, he’d gotten… this.
His first practice after two weeks of vacation, and he’s barely sore at all.
“Aw, man.”
Danny’s voice breaks into Sasha’s thoughts, and when he looks over the top of the car, Danny’s frowning at his phone.
“I was trying to get Patty and some of the other guys to meet us for drinks this week, but they’re all busy. Patty’s at a sales conference, CJ’s working late—he’s, like, always working late, it’s insane—and then Scotty’s got that thing with Mal.”
Sasha has no idea who Mal is or what “thing” Danny’s referring to, although judging by the fact that there’s no elaboration, he suspects he’s been told before.
“Oh,” he says, sliding into the car to hide his relief. He might train elite-level gymnastics for a living, but he doesn’t think he has the strength to make small talk in English at a crowded bar with a bunch of Americans he’s never met before.
“Yeah. Shit, I really wanted you to meet Patty. I mean, obviously you’re gonna meet him on Sunday, but…”
Sasha attempts to look enthusiastic. There’s a whole beach trip being planned, half a dozen people in a group text that’s constantly lighting up Danny’s phone, and he’s already dreading it.
He doesn’t want Danny to be disappointed if he isn’t immediately best friends with everyone, because it’s not going to happen; he’s never been good at charming strangers.
“We go way back.” Danny gets in and starts the car, still talking about Patty. “Like, we were on the same T-ball team and everything.”
“T-ball?”
“Oh, sorry—it’s, like, baseball for little kids. Wait, you guys don’t even have baseball, right?”
Sasha shrugs. “Some people have… how do you say, clubs? But no one plays. Or maybe, but I don’t know.”
“Why do they have baseball bats if they’re not playing baseball?”
Sasha mimes hitting someone, and Danny’s eyes widen.
“Dude. That’s hardcore. Remind me to never piss off a Russian, yikes. Does Kirill have a bat?”
Sasha shakes his head, though he knows for a fact that Kirill’s father does.
“Okay, good—oh, by the way, we should try and catch a game while you’re here.
I’ll see if my dad can get us tickets. He plays golf with this guy who has seats, like, right behind the Dodgers’ dugout.
I guess if it’s a weeknight game, we might have to leave gymnastics early, but that’s okay. Coach won’t mind.”
“What? Are you serious?” Sasha can’t imagine what the Round Lake coaches’ faces would look like if someone told them they were skipping out of practice for a sports game. He doesn’t know anyone who’s been stupid enough to try.
“Yeah, no, he’s cool. I told him we were gonna be doing stuff. And I took both Saturdays off, too.”
This hadn’t occurred to Sasha until just now, and he slowly inhales, trying to think of a response that doesn’t sound like he’s questioning Danny’s choices. “But… you have your championships soon. I don’t want you not practicing for me.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Danny reaches for Sasha’s hand, smiling at him as their fingers intertwine.
“My routines are ready, I just need to run through them some more and build up my endurance. And we always start that, like, a month before the competition. So I’ve got two more weeks, and that’s, like, exactly how long you’re gonna be here. Perfect timing.”
He grins at Sasha, case closed, and when they pull out of the Sunnyside Gymnastics Academy parking lot, he’s already back to talking about baseball and Patty.
Sasha listens with half an ear, nodding and mmhm-ing at the right moments—but he’s still thinking about that Coach won’t mind, can’t get past how easily Danny spoke about missing practice.
And he doesn’t know what’s bothering him more, the fact that Danny’s slacking so much on his workouts, or the fact that he’s slacking so much on his workouts and he’s still better than Sasha, still has a Busnari he can pull out and play with like a toy.
How can he be that good with barely any effort?
And how much better would he be if he stopped fooling around?
It’s annoying, but even more than that, it’s disappointing. In fact, if Sasha’s being honest with himself, it almost makes him think a little less of Danny.
He winces, trying to weed out the invasive thought before it puts down roots, because Danny’s only taking that time off to spend it with him.
And maybe today’s workout wasn’t what Sasha had hoped it would be, but he’s going to have to accept that and get over it, since he doesn’t want to waste the next two weeks being frustrated with Danny.
“…and then for Senior Day, we did this epic dance to ‘Call Me Maybe’ and ‘Sexy and I Know It’…”
Sasha exhales, reminding himself that he came here for Danny, not gymnastics.
He’ll just… lower his expectations. That’s all.
“What is ‘Call Me Maybe’?” he makes the mistake of asking.