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So Jinho hasn’t actually become a plant yet, but he’s getting there.
He ran around the playground and played tag when he was younger, but like everyone does, but started sitting at desks instead of breathing fresh air and squinting at LED screens instead of sunlight when school started to pick up. Since his interests ran more into music than sports, he spent more time sitting in the Orchestra hall than prancing through the football field.
Things don’t start to get really bad until university, when he barely has time to turn his assignments in on time, let alone remember to venture outside, and he spends most of those four years holed up in his recording studio and completely unaware of where the sun is. They say habits take three weeks to build, but Jinho has over eight years of mannerisms to live off after he graduates.
Hwitaek doesn’t say anything when Jinho insists on taking an elevator when they head to their room, on the first floor, and even maintains this silence when Jinho uses said elevator to go down, one floor, to do laundry.
Hyojong has gotten used to Jinho having to stop for water every time they go out, the older refusing to bring a water bottle with him because it so goddam heavy why is water so goddam heavy I’d honestly rather be dehydrated.
Everyone bites their lip when they take a day trip to Seoul and end up renting bikes for a scenic river-front experience, only for Jinho to start lagging behind two minutes in and end up riding behind Changgu.
They don’t stage an intervention until he’s out grocery shopping with Wooseok and needs to take a pit stop as they’re carrying the bags back from the store to the parking lot.
“Hyung, you can’t be that out of shape!” Wooseok cries, from where he’s perched on top of their sedan and waiting for Jinho to finally make the trek over.
“Round is a shape!” Jinho screams back, sitting on one of the grassy islands in the middle of the parking lot, taking his phone out to check his email while he catches his breath.
“I carried almost all of the bags!” Wooseok whines. “You had like a carton of eggs and two bananas!”
Hwitaek tries to drag him to a local gym that weekend, changing Jinho into some of Hyojong’s sweats and waking him up after he’s been carried to the car.
“I refuse!” Jinho screams, entire arm hooked around the door handle and aching as Hwitaek tries to drag him inside. He wishes, for the first time in his twenty five years of life, that he had gone to the gym earlier, if only to keep Hwitaek from dragging him in now.
“Jinho, you’re embarrassing me!” Hwitaek hisses back, losing his grip on Jinho’s right hand and ends up yanking only Hyojong’s sweater.
“I’m not going to die today!” Jinho chants, shrinking his arm back in when Hwitaek starts to pull the sleeve more taught.
They end up stretching the sleeve not quite far enough to reach the other wall opposite the entrance, but more than far enough to be a public nuisance. A few playful gym-goers end up playing limbo under the stretched sleeve as they leave.
New Balance makes good sweats, Jinho thinks to himself on the way back, flapping his right arm to see just how much they’ve ruined Hyojong’s sweater. It gets tired after ten seconds so he brings his hands back to his lap.
“It’s easier getting Wooseok to go to the doctor’s office.” Hwitaek rants, still worked up. “It’s easier to bring my dog to the doctor’s office. It’s easier to give me dog a bath! It’s easier-”
“Than Hyojong four bottles in?” Jinho interrupts, taking advantage of the fact he’s out of Hwitaek’s arm span.
“You’re a useless ass.” Hwitaek responds. “I hope you die of a heart attack. At 28. No one will know anythings wrong because you’ll have been in your room, one hand stuck in a bag of prawn crisps, buried under your blankets.”
“That sounds okay.” Jinho decides, after a few moments of contemplation. “If I’m going to die early, I want it to be before I have to enlist.”
“You’re impossible!” Hwitaek shrieks, ripping the air freshener off the rear view mirror and throwing a strong scent of “Brisk Morning Wood” at Jinho’s face.
Jinho chucks it right back, feeling pleased with himself as Hwitaek continues squawking about traffic safety.
Until the next day, when he wakes up and his throwing arm is sore.
Jinho himself doesn’t intervene until he comes home to find Hyojong digging through his underwear drawer, the rest of his room in shambles.
“I was just trying to find a condom.” Hyojong explains, while Jinho is still frozen. “I’m out.”
“There should be some in the nightstand?” Jinho replies, hoping the Neon Genesis Evangelion Box Set under his bed hasn’t been disturbed.
“I guess you’re out.” Hyojong shrugs, pulling the bedside drawer out until it’s detached from his nightstand and flips it upside down.
Three empty Ramune bottles and a hamster fall out.
“Sorry for the mess.” Hyojong sighs, walking out of the room and brushing Jinho’s shoulder on the way out.
When was the last time I topped? Jinho wonders, still stood at the door. He thinks back to the last few dates he’s been on, the last couple of times they went clubbing, and all he recalls is memories of being simultaneously turned on and too lazy to move.
This has gone too far.
“Are you sure about this?” Yuto can’t help but ask, when he sees Jinho leaving in sweats the next morning. “I mean isn’t this kind of a big step for you?”
“I don’t get why you’re so hung up on this.” Jinho sighs, digging through the kitchen. They’ll have water bottles for purchase at the gym, right? He’s not bringing a bag, and having to carry the bottle in his hands is out of the question. “Haven’t you guys been trying to get me to go to the gym since last year?”
“We’ve been trying to get you to move since last year.” Hyunggu corrects, digging through cupboards for coffee.
“Are you sure you don’t want to start off with something easier?” Yuto presses, genuinely concerned. “Like an evening walk, maybe. Once a week. Once a month?”
“We can get you a cane too, if you throw your back out.”
“A lot of people use walking sticks these days.”
“Or even just sitting in an upright position.” Hyunggu laughs. “Instead of eating ramen laying down in bed. Maybe you should start there.”
“I will show all of you.” Jinho declares. “I refuse to stand for this.”
Hyunggu wakes up the whole house with his guffawing after watch Jinho trip over his slippers and face plants into the doormat.
Despite his confidence in the kitchen, Jinho starts to grow self conscious once they’re in the car, and he’s so consumed by thoughts he doesn’t notice they’ve arrived until Yuto calls his name. Even after, the walk to the entrance is mostly silent.
“Don’t worry, Hongseok is a friend of mine.” Yuto reassures, pushing Jinho through a very familiar set of doors. “He was my personal trainer when I fractured my shin last time, so he’s able to adapt to people like… anyway, don’t worry.”
“Are you sure you can’t just train me? Or why can’t I just use the machines myself?” Jinho starts to curl into himself the closer they get to front desk. “I was an engineering major at one time in my life. I’m sure I can figure this shit out.”
“It’s good to have a trainer when you start out.” Yuto explains, taking one look at Jinho’s expression and choosing to fill out the membership form for him. “It’s easy to injure yourself or fuck something up when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“This better be worth my money.” Jinho grumbles, taking his wallet out to pay.
“Don’t worry, like I said, he’s a friend. You’ll like him.” Yuto reassures, shoving the form over so Jinho can double check it.
Jinho’s being given his membership card, some maps, and having the monthly rates explained to him after, so he doesn’t notice when Yuto steps over to greet someone until he feels a hand on his shoulder.
“You must be Jinho!” He who must be Hongseok greets, offering a hand and a smile.
Like is an understatement.
Maybe Jinho’s already died, and this angel is here to guide him back to hell. Maybe the fall back at the apartment had killed him, and this has all been a nightmare in the making. Maybe Lee Dongwook is going to hop down from the ceiling and Jinho can finally practice all his pickup lines that he and Hyojong had brainstormed while smashed and in year two.
“Jinho?” Yuto whispers, yanking Jinho out of his thoughts, and he can see a curious grin on Hongseok’s face once his eyes settle back into reality.
“I think Lee Dongwook would be gay on the side.” Jinho replies. “Like he’ll probably marry a woman but he wouldn’t say no to getting his dick sucked and who isn’t enough of a narcissist to enjoy being hit on?”
Jinho’s brain is a little slow.
“Is that so?” Hongseok replies, smiling even as his eyebrows furrow.
It takes a moment for Jinho to adjust his expectation of Hyojong’s agreement to the actual image of Hongseok in front of him.
“I’m going to head out now.” Yuto decides, patting Jinho and Hongseok on the shoulder once each.
On the bright side, it can only go up from here. Jinho reasons, momentarily relieved from Hongseok’s judging gaze when the latter turns to bid Yuto goodbye.
“You know,” Hongseok starts, once he’s turned back around and sees Jinho trying to bury his face behind his sweat shirt sleeves, “I feel like I’ve seen you before. Weren’t you here last week?”
I stand corrected.
Hongseok is either used to dealing with flighty clients like Jinho, or just naturally reassuring, because his voice is very soothing and Jinho almost starts to think he’ll make it out of this alive even after they’ve arrived at the treadmill.
“We’re just going to do a warm up.” Hongseok repeats, grabbing Jinho’s hand to help him onto the machine when Jinho’s feet are frozen. “Just a warm up to get your muscles warm. When we do more intensive sessions we’re going to get your heart rate up to 190, 200 maybe, but for right now we’re going to keep it around 120.”
“I once ate 120 Oreos.” Jinho whispers, nerves starting to get to him as he stares at all the buttons across from him. “During a take home final in uni. All in one sitting.”
“That’s impressive.” Hongseok smiles. “Are you ready to start now?”
“Give me another minute.” Jinho sighs, reaching out to grab the hand rests on both sides of the machine and grabbing one of Hongseok’s arms instead.
He may as well die happy.
“Let’s start off with a slow jog, alright?” Hongseok says, squeezing Jinho’s hand before moving to turn the machine on.
Jinho barely manages to bite his screech down.
“10 kilometers per hour.” Hongseok continues. “Comfortable. Picture yourself by a lake.”
“Can we do nine.” Jinho whispers, apprehensive as the treadmill starts to speed up.
“Let’s start with ten for a few minutes.”
Ten doesn’t work out.
At nine, Jinho’s heart rate is pushing 170 just three minutes in.
At six, five minutes in, Jinho’s heart monitor is reading 180.
“You know what.” Hongseok decides, staring at the ceiling as he thinks. Jinho is walking at a comfortable 4 km/h in shame. “Let’s go back to stretches for the rest of this session. And then I’ll make a new plan.”
The new plan is the patient recovery track.
There’s an indoor track, above the basketball courts, where people with crutches, in wheelchairs, or in Jinho’s shape can reclaim motor movement of their limbs.
“Don’t feel bad.” Hongseok is ever positive, despite the fact they’ve only been there ten minutes and the girl in crutches has already lapped them twice. “Everybody has to start somewhere.”
Jinho wants to reply, but he’s too out of breath to form words.
Maybe this gym thing was a mistake.
“Is there a vending machine on this floor?” Jinho asks, collapsed on the ground as the guy in a wheelchair rolls around his body. He’s willing to walk maybe 30 steps for water, but any more and he’d rather just die right here.
“You shouldn’t consume sugar right after working out.” Hongseok chides, sitting next to Jinho’s crime scene sprawl, forehead not even shiny.
“I really just want water.” Jinho musters out, with great effort. He moves his step counter down to 28.
“Here, you can take some of mine.” Hongseok offers, hand holding out his worn in Camelback water bottle.
Today is the best day of Jinho’s life.
“I feel like this was a mistake.” Yanan groans, standing an arm’s length away from the stove so the steam doesn’t hit him in the face. “Jinho used to at least boil his own ramen. Now he’s completed his potato transformation.”
“Less talking, more cooking.” Jinho orders, arms and forehead resting on the table, too sore to move unless he’s eating.
The second time he’d gone back to the gym he had thought the same thing, Hongseok be damned, and the third time he had almost run away half way through the session when Hongseok brought him to a pull up bar. In his defense, the thing had looked like a noose, but apparently fancy pull up machines have weights to help you at the other end. Hongseok, in an effort to get him to calm down, had shifted the weights to 100kg and let Jinho just sit on the machine like a see saw for ten minutes until he calmed down enough to actually use it.
The fifth time they had gone back to the treadmill, and what Hongseok refers to as a “slow jog” still puts Jinho’s heart rate at about a 180, but after he gets into the habit of dragging himself there twice a week he starts to see things change.
For example, instead of feeling a bloated weight in his stomach after cup ramen, he’s still standing, and even has the energy to drag Wooseok out so they can buy ice cream bars at the convenience store.
Instead of laying in bed, exhausted and lethargic in the mornings, he’s wide awake and watches Knowing Brother on his phone.
He even starts carrying around water bottles, though empty ones, that he can refill at fast food joints with free water and a sheepish grin at the cashier. They usually let him off, since he still has the broke uni student look going on.
For obvious reasons, he doesn’t bring his own water bottle to the gym though.
He even breaks his bottom-ing streak a month into this gym thing, in a motel one night after their entire house goes out to celebrate Changgu’s promotion. Jinho is pretty happy with himself when he makes the journey of shame back, but Hwitaek is near tears and Wooseok greets him with a giant cake, baked in the penis shaped cake pan Hyunggu got for Christmas last year.
Jinho, belatedly, wonders if it’s normal to have roommates this invested in your sex life.
“Just eat.” Hyunggu demands, trying to pry Jinho’s jaw open. “When else am I going to use this cake pan?! When else?! Let me live!”
“Smile!” Yuto interrupts, phone out and taking a photo. With Jinho’s luck it’ll be on Facebook, for all his coworkers to see.
It actually gets posted on Snapchat.
“Happy belated birthday!” Hongseok greets the next time Jinho goes to the gym. “I’d have a cake or something, but that feels inappropriate as your trainer so I got balloons instead.”
“Birthday?” Jinho asks, pleased that Hongseok would think to gift him something. “It’s not my birthday though.”
“Really?” Hongseok asks, surprised.
“Did you check on my info form?” Jinho pries, taking the gift anyway. “I’ll let you know that I am keeping this though.”
“Go ahead.” Hongseok grins. “That would have been smart, but no actually. I saw your cake on Yuto’s snapchat though? I thought they were celebrating your birthday?”
Oh no.
“Was it not your birthday?” Hongseok asks, tying the balloons he has onto the gift bag handle in Jinho’s hands.
Yu to the fucking to.
“Was it a promotion then?” Hongseok continues, despite Jinho’s continuous prayers that he’ll stop.
“I… I… is your hair wet?” Jinho blurts out, going for the first distraction he can spot. Luckily, Hongseok’s hair is indeed wet. “What’s that all about? How did your hair get wet? I am so very curious.”
“Oh, um, yeah, I just showered.” Hongseok answers, taken aback but going along nevertheless.
“Do you always shower before going to the gym?” Jinho pries, a little desperate.
“Oh, no I just got back from my own work out.” Hongseok grins. “A bunch of friends and I like to go rock climbing once a week. It can get a little monotonous working out when you’re in a gym all day, but with the climbing walls you’re actually going somewhere.”
“That sounds fun.” Jinho nods, glad that Hongseok’s taken the bait. He must sound a little too enthusiastic though.
“We could go next time! It’s just on the other side of the gym. Indoors and everything.” Hongseok exclaims. “I think you could handle it. They have beginner walls too.”
“That sounds fun!” Jinho replies, reciprocating Hongseok’s high-five.
Jinho isn’t lying, as long as you understand ‘that sounds fun’ to mean ‘kill me now.’
The seventh time Jinho falls off the wall, grasping at air as Hongseok catches and lowers him back to the ground via the pulley, he vows to make Yuto feel seven generations of pain.
Jinho had been relatively relaxed about the whole rock climbing thing, having seen similar walls at arcades and children’s birthday parties. He figured if an eight year old was able to clear the wall then he’d at least be able to not embarrass himself too badly.
He was wrong.
“It’s a sport with a strong learning curve.” Hongseok tries to be comforting, unstrapping Jinho from the safety and handing him a bottle of water.
Jinho wants to be self depreciating, but he can’t spit out “What could possibly be the learning curve for ‘place hand on rock place leg on rock’” when he’s gasping for air. This whole out of breath thing is certainly putting a damper on his numerous charms.
“Jinho, is that you?!” He hears over his shoulder, and before he even turns around he knows he’s going to regret everything.
All of the things.
Like lots of things.
“Jonghyun.” Jinho sighs, turning around and barely mustering the energy to duck when Jonghyun tries to hug him.
His knees give out at the action and he ends up sprawled on the ground.
“I haven’t seen you in forever!” Jonghyun continues, collapsing with his head on Jinho’s lap, undeterred. “And when I did see you again, I really didn’t think it’d be at a gym.”
“You and me both.” Jinho sighs, attempting to sit up and his stomach protesting. The ground is fine.
“Jonghyun, nice to see you.” Hongseok interrupts, stepping over Jinho partially to greet Jonghhyun, and giving Jinho a front row seat to his ass.
The ground is more than fine.
“Hongseok! Do you two know each other?”
“He’s one of my clients.” Hongseok replies easily, making Jinho wince. It’s not like he can expect to be introduced as “the one true love of my previously bland and meaningless life” at this point in their relationship, but let a boy dream.
“We went to high school together.” Jonghyun explains, standing back up again. “I don’t even think I’ve seen this guy lift a music stand; I hope he’s paying you premium.”
“Fuck off.” Jinho scowls, horizontally, and by the look on Jonghyun’s face he really isn’t scary from this angle.
“I’d love to talk, but since this is his paid time, we’re going to have to catch up later.” Hongseok replies, still smiling but voice cold. He starts stepping forward, leading Jonghyun to the entrance, while Jinho cheers in his head.
“Alright, alright, I’m heading out.” Jonghyun shrugs, about to turn around but stopping. “As one fellow trainer to another though, I have some advice on how to get this kid motivated.”
“I’m older than you!” Jinho retorts, response developing into a shriek when Jonghyun bends down to steal the phone out of Jinho’s pocket.
He ends up throwing it on the space between the rock wall and ceiling, cackling over Hongseok’s shocked protests before leaving.
“I’m sorry about that.” Hongseok apologises. “He’s one of the other trainers here and has a… way with people.”
“I’m not sure you should be the one apologising.” Jinho sighs. “We had a very antagonistic relationship in high school.”
“I can grab your phone, just let me go call someone down for the harness.” Hongseok suggests, but Jinho shakes his head.
“I want to try and get it myself.” Jinho replies, determined. He’s made enough of a fool of himself in front of Hongseok. Time to be good at something—though he’ll settle for functional.
“Alright, if you say so.” Hongseok replies, supportive but smile off.
Jinho figures he’s just uncomfortable and starts to make it his mission to scale at least halfway up the wall, and then two thirds of the way up, and then finally to the top. In the process he develops a trauma for purple rocks and probably permanently resets the angle of his leg and his hip with the way he’s angling his foot to stay on the rocks, but after forty minutes of over time on Hongseok’s part Jinho eventually makes it to the top.
“I did it!” Jinho shrieks, grabbing his phone as soon as its in reach, abandoning the wall entirely.
“You did it!” Hongseok screams back, one arm waving as he dances and the other one firmly on the safety line.
It’s fucking adorable.
“I did it!” Jinho parrots, with nothing more to say, swinging in circles as Hongseok lowers him down. Climbing back down is theoretically the other half of the exercise, but Jinho’s reunited with his literal actual child and he really doesn’t give a shit.
Hongseok’s smile is still off.
They’re relatively silent on the way to the locker rooms, usually separating at the entrance for Hongseok to meet his next client and Jinho to shower and change. Jinho is lost in thought, trying not to turn and gawk at Hongseok’s arms, and instead remembering how they had looked, muscles tight, working the harness the past two and a half hours. He and Hongseok should work out more often.
“I won’t take it personally if you want to switch trainers.” Hongseok breaks the silence once Jinho’s about to step into the dressing room.
What?
“Switch trainers?” Jinho repeats, confused. “What?”
“You and Jonghyun seem close, so if you’d be more comfortable working with a friend I would understand.” Hongseok explains, going for chill but arms waving around his hips anxiously as he speaks. “I mean, he’s a decent trainer. Hasn’t been working here as long as me, but I mean he’s not bad. Very easy going. And easy on the eyes. And you two have a history and all. He also managed to get you up the wall and stuff, so he might even be-”
“Hongseok.” Jinho interrupts, finally understanding, as he takes his hand off the handle to the men’s room and puts it on Hongseok’s bicep instead.
Let a man live.
“I’ll switch trainers, but in return you have to give me your number.” Jinho declares.
“My number?”
“So you can take me to that juice bar you keep on talking about.” Jinho can’t keep the disgust off his face as the words ‘juice’ and ‘bar’ come out his mouth, far too close for his tastes. “On a date.” He adds, in case Hongseok still doesn’t get it. “Preferably in a sleeveless shirt, since I won’t see you at the gym.”
“Alternatively,” Hongseok considers, eyes twinkling, “You don’t switch trainers, but I give you my number anyway.”
In case you were wondering, Jinho starts a memo to his past self, thinking about all the awkward moments in the gym when Hongseok had tried to explain how to use free weights to him and they ended up fully pressed up again one another across from a mirror, dating a personal trainer is a really great idea. Great idea. You did good man.
Dating a personal trainer is a terrible idea.
“You keep saying ‘couples yoga,’ but all I’m seeing is illegal Chinese water torture.” Jinho responds, refusing to look at Hongseok as decides to stare at the ceiling instead.
When did a Chocopie melt on there?
“It’s fun!” Hongseok whines, pressing his phone against Jinho’s cheek, filled with photos of random yoga poses. “It’s like yoga, but we can do it together!”
“So yoga but worse.”
“It’s Saturday afternoon.” Hongseok tries a different angle, throwing an arm around Jinho’s chest from behind. “I know how much you hate waking up in the morning. You’ll get to sleep in!”
“I will consider your medieval Chinese water torture.” Jinho sighs, leaning back into his boyfriend. “If you consider not wearing your pedometer during sex.”