Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
PERCY
I’d love to say I spent the rest of my Saturday alone in my apartment making amazing progress on my paper.
But what actually happened was that Butch and I slept on the couch for two hours, and even after he left, I spent the rest of the day with him on my mind.
Very little work happened, and while I am both ashamed of myself and starting to get a little anxious about the creeping deadline, I also can’t stop smiling.
And here I am on Sunday morning now, with my notes spread out on the kitchen table and my laptop open in front of me, checking for any new texts instead of working on this damn research paper.
“Get it together, man,” I mutter to myself, setting my phone face down, as far away as possible so I’ll stop reaching for it.
So I hooked up with a hot guy. That doesn’t mean the world stops turning.
I have my degree to focus on and… other things…
very social and… Ugh, who am I kidding? Getting naked with Butch is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.
Fuck a PhD and a career, I just want to simp for that sweet, muscly gymbo.
I sigh and toss my pen down onto my pile of notes. The distinct sound of the key in the door is all the excuse I need to abandon my work for now. I greet Juno at the front door with a wide, teasing smirk plastered to my face, my arms crossed sternly over my chest.
“And just where have you been all weekend, young they’dy?” I do my best impression of my own father trying to be all parental.
Juno snorts and raises an eyebrow at me.
“I’ve got a better question. Is that a hickey or a bug bite?” They look pointedly at my neck, and I hurry to cover whatever spot they noticed that I must have missed when I looked in the mirror this morning. I was too busy looking at my immutable smile to check for any love bites.
Juno laughs and points at me with playful accusation. “I knew it. You and Butch totally hooked up.”
I scoff and lower my hand. “Hey, I came in here to tease you about your forty-eight hour fuckfest, not to be interrogated about the fact that Butch and I totally hooked up… twice.”
Juno squeals with excitement and I join them.
“Come on. I need a shower, but I want to hear everything.” They kick off their shoes and then grab my arm and tow me along to the bathroom.
I close the toilet lid and sit down while they turn on the shower and start to disrobe, tossing their clothes haphazardly in the general direction of the hamper.
“Dude, don’t leave me hanging. What happened?
How did it happen? Was he nice? Are you happy? You look really fucking happy.”
My smile gets even wider and all the happy, tingly feelings I’ve had since Butch kissed me at his apartment rush right back to the surface.
“It was amazing, Juno. He’s just so…” I sigh happily and bite my lip.
“I hate getting all hung up on gender stereotypes, but he’s just such a guy, you know?
I think part of the reason I’ve been holding back and afraid to really date or even get physical with anyone is because I’ve been afraid that once a cis guy knew I was trans, he would, I don’t know, treat me like ‘the girl’ in bed.
You know? But, god, it’s not like that with Butch at all. ”
“Perce, that makes me so fucking happy. You deserve all the things. Now do you see why I’ve been such a buttinsky about your love life?” Juno makes another happy noise and hugs me.
“Dude, boobs,” I complain, playfully shoving them away.
They stick their tongue out, then pull the shower curtain back and step inside.
“Okay, so, was it just sex? Did he ask you on a date? Fill me in.”
Annnnnnnd there goes all the air right out of my happy little bubble. My shoulders slump and my smile falls, and I’m kind of glad they’re on the other side of the curtain and can’t see any of it.
“I don’t know. Before we had sex we were talking about some stuff, and he mentioned that he doesn’t really date. He said something about not wanting to sacrifice his time at the gym, and then he offered to be my sex coach.”
Juno groans loudly. “That’s cheesy as fuck.”
“Yeah. Or maybe I’m the one who made the sex coach joke.
I can’t remember.” I grimace. “But he definitely said the not dating thing. Except, I also mentioned that I never really date, and obviously I’m not anti-dating, so maybe I shouldn’t read too much into it?
Junooooooo,” I whine, “this is why I didn’t want to do this.
School is easy, boys are hard. I should have stuck to my strengths. ”
“No panic spirals. Take a deep breath,” they command. “It sounds like you need to talk to him.”
“God no. That sounds super embarrassing.”
“Percy, don’t make me come out there and fight you.”
I groan. “But what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, Butch, do you like me like me or were you just horny?’”
“I mean, I would make it sound less middle school, but basically, yeah.”
“Do I have to?”
Juno pulls the shower curtain back and gives me a much better stern look than I managed earlier.
“No, you don’t have to, but it’s the only way you’ll find out. Either that, or you can wait until he brings it up himself.”
“Okay, how about this… I don’t have a training session scheduled, but I can go down to Sweat and just see if I can pick up a vibe.
Maybe I’ll even catch him in the middle of a training session with someone else and I can see if he seems flirty.
Maybe hooking up with his clients is his kink or something.
” The thought has crossed my mind a couple of times, but saying it out loud makes me a little queasy.
“That doesn’t sound at all like the advice I was just giving you.”
I nod with determination, ignoring whatever it is Juno just said, and stand up.
A workout would do me good this morning anyway.
I’ll just go down there, burn off some energy, maybe see if Butch is flirting with anyone else, then come back here and start on my paper.
It’s a brilliant plan. I don’t know why Juno shakes their head at me before pulling the shower curtain back into place.
But, whatever, I don’t need their negativity.
My plan is brilliant. I mentally pat myself on the back as I march into my room to get changed.
BUTCH
“There you go, man. Two more reps. You’ve got this,” I encourage my client, Tim, as he grunts through finishing up his set on the bench press.
When he’s done, I help guide the bar back into place, then come around and offer him my hand for a high five.
“You’ve got that next fitness test in the bag. ”
He huffs a laugh and grabs his towel to dab the sweat off the back of his neck. “I sure as shit hope so.”
“You do,” I say confidently, slapping him on the shoulder.
The sound of traffic from outside draws my attention for a second, and I glance at the door to see Percy stepping inside.
My stomach flutters and a smile jumps immediately to my face.
The only reason I’ve managed to stay focused at all this morning is because I didn’t expect to see him.
If I’d known he might stop in, I would have been looking at the door every thirty seconds.
After I went home yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon watching baseball and resisting the urge to text him.
“You’re not going to torture me with more box jumping today, are you?” Tim asks, drawing my attention back to the fact that I’ve still got half his session to finish.
“Tell you what, you can pick your poison. Box jumps or the balance board?”
I glance back over my shoulder, and this time I find Percy looking at me, chewing on his bottom lip and looking back and forth between me and Tim. I lift my hand to wave, and he gives me a tight smile before hurrying over to the treadmills.
“Balance board,” Tim says.
I nod. “Alright, balance board it is. Let’s do this.”
I do my best to stay focused on the rest of the training session, making sure Tim regrets trying to take the easy way out with the balance board, and not staring at Percy the whole time. At the end of the hour, I’ve managed one of those things, at least.
“I hate you,” Tim groans, and I chuckle.
“That’s what you pay me for. I’ll see you back here on Wednesday.” I give him one more slap on the back and he heads into the locker room.
Percy has been doing a respectable little circuit while I was busy, pretending not to be watching me every time I looked his way.
He’s on the leg press when I make my way over, a patch of sweat darkening the front of his shirt, his shorts riding up to show off the muscles and definition in his thighs that we’ve been working so hard on.
My cock twitches and the caveman inside of me can’t think of anything other than peeling those sweaty clothes off of him and licking him all over.
“Didn’t expect to see you here this morning, Rocky.” I check the weight setting to make sure he’s not slacking. “Did you miss me or have I finally brainwashed you into the gym cult?”
He rolls his eyes at me and grunts out another rep.
“Was that guy one of your training clients?” he asks instead of answering my question.
“Tim? Yeah, I’ve been training him for a few months.”
“Oh.” He nods and does another rep. “He looks… strong.”
“Yeah. He was a firefighter, but he had to take some time off to take care of his mom, and he kind of let himself go. He wants to reapply, but he was worried he wouldn’t pass the fitness test, so I’ve been getting him back into shape.
Between you and me, it’s more of a confidence issue at this point than a fitness issue, but I’m not about to turn down the money if he wants me to kick his ass a couple times a week. ”
“Is he… I mean, are you guys…” He finishes his set and swings his legs over so he can sit up.
“Are we what, Rocky?” I toss him a towel and reset the weight on the machine so I can get a couple of sets in.
“Are you friends?”
I cock my head, trying to work out what he’s really asking. “We’re friendly. He’s a cool guy.”
“No, I mean…” He licks his lips and then huffs like he’s annoyed. At me? No clue. Tim comes out of the locker room and Percy narrows his eyes a little.
“Wait, are you jealous?” I bark out a laugh.
He scoffs, shakes his head, then scoffs again.
I get into the leg press and catch Percy’s eyes wandering over me with the same hunger I can feel building in my gut every time I look at him.
His gaze lingers on my thighs and on the swell of my soft cock pressed against my shorts.
When his eyes meet mine, I wink at him, and a blush rises in his cheeks.
“I’ve never hooked up with any of my clients before.” I grunt as I do my first rep. “Not that some of them aren’t hot, I’ve just never really thought about it. Work and dating have always been separate in my mind. It seems messy otherwise.”
His bottom lip is right back between his teeth.
“Sure, I get it. Don’t shit where you eat and all that.
” He wheezes out a tight laugh. “So… uh, don’t worry about…
you know… what happened. It was no big deal, and I’m not going to make anything weird or messy.
I probably should cut back on my training sessions a bit though.
I’ve really been slacking on my schoolwork, and—”
“Rocky.” I let the weights fall into place with a noisy clatter. He stops rambling and waits. My heart pounds a wild rhythm inside my chest, and for a second, my nerves almost get the best of me. But fuck it. No guts, no glory. “Can I take you out sometime?”
“You…” He licks his lips again. “You want to take me out?”
He glances somewhere behind me, and I’m sure Callan, Fender, and maybe even Silas are watching this whole thing go down and wishing they had a tub of popcorn between them. Then he looks back at me and nods.
“Sure. Yeah. That would be nice.”
Relief bursts in my chest like water through a cracked dam and I grin up at him.
“Kick-ass. Now, give me a little encouragement for this last set, and then we’ll hit the treadmills before my next client comes in.”
“Uh, okay. Breathe, baby, you can take it,” he purrs.
I sputter a laugh and let the weights clatter again. “I do not sound that porny when I coach you.”
“Yeah, you do,” he says confidently. “Now, finish this set or I’m going to make it twice as hard next time.”
“That threat sounds porny too. I really need to work on my technique as a coach before I get sued for sexual harassment.”
“I’m definitely not complaining.” Percy grins, and my stomach flutters.
We have a date. A nebulous, “sometime” kind of date, but I’ll take it.