Work Text:
Movies, take out, and beer had become a Saturday night tradition for the two of them since they’d finally earned enough seniority at the gym to not teach Sunday classes. It was easier for Clarisse - people din’t usually want to kick box or do cross fit on Sundays. But there were a lot of people who looked forward to Sunday morning yoga, and Chris, as the only male yoga instructor at the gym, brought in a lot of middle-aged moms. Him getting off that shift was a miracle spectacular enough to warrant a year’s worth of cheat days.
“Does that one woman still think we’re dating?” Clarisse asked, sitting back down on the couch with two fresh beers. Chris took his from her and smiled.
“Well, she hasn’t hit on me since.” Earlier that year, Chris had come up to her, a bit frantic, before his class started.
“I need a favor,” Clarisse worried he was going to ask her to cover his class. Almost three years of yoga twice a week had not made her qualified to lead a class, nor was she even particularly fond of yoga.
“What’s up?”
“This woman’s been hitting on me after every class. She’s like, forty. I need you to pretend to be my … something. Doesn’t matter. Girlfriend, wife, mother of my child, just something.”
Clarisse just rolled her eyes and smiled, “No problem … honey? Sweetie? Baby? Do you have a preference?”
Chris just let out a sigh of relief. “Whatever gets her to stop talking to me,”
He smiled at the memory. Clarisse had gone with “girlfriend” and “babe,” coming up to him and the end of class and putting an arm around his waist. Even a year later, the memory gave him butterflies. Chris wasn’t oblivious, he knew that he had liked her since pretty much the day they’d met, nearly three years ago. He just hadn’t found the exact right moment to ask her out.
But now he was on the clock.
He wasn’t the only guy who worked at the gym who admired a woman who could kick their ass and would do so upon request.
As far as Chris knew, she hadn’t been on a date in well over a year, but she had dated guys from the gym in the past - nothing that ever lasted very long, but it had happened. So he knew she liked guys and would go on a date, which was in his favor, as a guy who wanted to take her out on a date.
He was planning on waiting for the right moment, until the worst possible thing happened. Butch, the other main kick boxing coach, the only person in the gym who Clarisse was maybe as close to as she was with Chris, the only other person Chris had ever seen make Clarisse laugh (and he had prided himself for a long time on being about to get her to laugh), said the nine words that could have put Chris in his grave:
“Do you think Clarisse would go out with me?” Butch asked one day in the locker room.
Chris panicked. “No!” He yelled.
Butch’s face fell, “Well, thank you for your honesty.”
“No, no, wait, no, that’s not what I meant. I meant …” Chris took a deep breath, “I meant yes, she probably would go out with you, and because the answer is yes, I’m going to have to beg you not to ask her out.”
Butch looked confused, “Uh, why?”
“Because I want to ask her out. I’ve been meaning to for like … a year.”
“You guys are together, like, all of the time. Why haven’t you asked yet.”
Chris shrugged, “I’m a bit of a coward.”
Butch paused for a second before he said, “Alright, I won’t ask her out unless she turns you down.”
“Wait, really?” Chris said.
“Yeah, I mean, you’re my friend so it’d be pretty shit to ask out a girl you like when I know you like her. Plus the panicked look in your eye probably means you’ve got more than just a crush on her.”
Chris could cry. “You’re the best, man.”
And then three weeks passed. “Have you asked her out yet?” Butch asked.
“No, I haven’t,” Chris admitted.
“Dude …”
“I know, I’m sorry. Alright, how about, if I don’t ask her out by the end of the week, you can ask her out without any bro code guilt or whatever,”
Butch shrugged, “If having a deadline will help you get your ass in gear, then sure.”
And now it was Saturday. His week was almost up. He could do this. He could do this.
Could he do this without throwing up? Yet to be seen.
“So … do anything fun recently?” He asked.
“Do anything fun?” She was laughing at him. Oh god, this was a disaster.
“Yeah … like did you go to see any movies? Go on any dates?” Smooth Rodriguez, smooth.
“Dude, we talk to each other like, every day, I think you’d know if I had gone on any dates.”
“Well, I don’t know. I just sometimes hear rumors …”
“Hear rumors about me going on dates?” Now she seemed like she as getting angry. Time to back track.
“No, not about you going on dates, just about guys wanting to ask you out.” Alright brain, now is not the time to throw your very good and very kind friend Butch under the bus, he thought.
“Oh please, there aren’t any guys at the gym who like me,” She leaned back and took another sip of her beer. Chris looked at her, confused. Even besides him and Butch, there had been a number of guys and girls over the years who had wanted to date her.
“That’s not true,” he told her.
“Oh yeah? Who is it then?” She asked sitting up.
Me, he thought, I do, come on mouth just say ‘me,’ m-e, it’s easy you can do it. “Do you remember Jake Mason?” he asked. Nope, you blew it, he thought.
“Yeah?”
“He wanted to ask you out.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
Because I begged him not to, Chris thought. “He was going to, but then he got that coaching job and moved away.”
Clarisse shrugged like she still didn’t really believe him. “Okay, well one guy over a year and half ago is not the same as a bunch of guys wanting to ask me out.”
“Well, I don’t want to blow anyones cover, so you’re just going to have to trust me,” Chris looked away from her, facing the TV and trying to focus on taking sips of his drink. He was pretty sure that if she looked at his face right now she’d be able to see right through him.
After a second Clarisse asked, “Is this a joke?” She didn’t sound angry, she sounded … sad. Vulnerable, Chris realized, she sounded vulnerable. After three years of knowing her, he couldn’t think of a single moment he’d heard her sound like that. He turned around; he could tell she was trying to look blank faced, but she looked hurt.
“No, Clarisse, it’s not –”
“Because it’s not funny.”
“Clarisse, I would never –”
“Oh but you expect me to believer there are just multiple guys at the gym who want to go out with me, but none of them have asked?”
“Yes, because that’s the truth!”
“Then name a single one,”
You, say you, you idiot, his brain screamed at him. “Butch!” Nope, you blew it.
Clarisse leaned back, “Butch?”
“Yeah. He told me last month he wanted to ask you out.”
Clarrise looked down at her hands, then back to him. “Then why hasn’t he?”
“What?”
“Why hasn’t he asked me out?” She moved in close to him, like she did when she was angry. He was so close he could kiss her without having to move too far forward. But, of course, he didn’t take the opportunity.
“Because!”
“Because why?”
“Because I asked him not to!”
Now she looked angry and confused, “Why? Why would you do that?”
“Because I -” he paused for a second and stopped yelling, “think you’re beautiful.” She didn’t look angry anymore, but she still looked confused. “And strong, and smart, and I want to kiss you so bad. Not just right now, but every moment that I’ve been with you or thinking about you for the last three years I’ve wished that I was kissing you. And I didn’t tell you or ask you out because I’m a wimp, and afraid of getting rejected, and afraid of ruining our friendship,” he turned back to the TV, “and I’m sorry I told Butch not to ask you out. That was wrong, but the idea of seeing you with him made me so goddamn sick to my stomach I didn’t know what else to do. So, I’m sorry.” He hid his face and his hands, hoping that she would just kind of leave him to his shame and misery.
“I hate yoga,” she said after a minute.
Chris looked up from his hands, but kept looking forward. “Wow, what a weird way to kick me when I’m down.”
“No, no,” she moved closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, “I hate yoga, and I’ve gone to your class twice a week for three years.”
Chris finally turned back to look at her. Their faces were close again.
“I don’t want to go out with Butch,” she said.
“Oh.” She didn’t look vulnerable anymore, Chris realized.
“Kiss me,” she said.
That was all Chris needed. He closed the space between them, placing one hand on her thigh, and another on the back of her head, pulling her in close. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling them closer, before deciding to readjust so that she was straddling his lap. Chris smiled at the closeness, before opening his mouth slightly to bite her lower lip. She let out a slight gasp and moved her hands to the sides of his face as she kept kissing him.
Chris noticed her hands were trembling. he moved his hands off the backs of her thighs and pulled away, holding her hands in his. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, brushing it off, “it’s just … been a while.”
Chris smiled and kissed her again, “Well that’s a shame.” He moved his lips down to her neck, “You’re an excellent kisser,” he said.
They continued like that for a few minutes, their hands eventually finding their ways under each others shirts. Chris broke the kiss and pulled his off. Sure, she had seen him without a shirt in the gym before, but this felt entirely different.
Clarisse decided to follow his lead, taking her shirt off more slowly than he did. He had seen her in just a sports bra plenty of times, but this was the first time he’d seen her in just a regular bra. “Damn,” he muttered, looking her over. Her face flushed and Chris smiled, before leaning forward to kiss the tops of her breasts.
“Oh,” she gasped, grinding down on him slightly. He was definitely noticeably hard, there was no missing that.
“Do you wanna …?” He asked.
She pulled away just slightly to answer, “Huh?”
“Do you wanna …” He gestured vaguely to his bedroom, but she still didn’t respond, “have sex?” he finished the question without a lot of grace, but hoped for the best.
“Oh,” was all she said.
“We don’t have to,” he added quickly.
“I know, I just … yes.” She said. “Yes, I want to.”
Chris kissed her again, before they both stood up to move to the bedroom.
Once the door was shut, Chris pinned her against the door and started kissing her again. She kissed back and put her hands on his hips, but she was otherwise seemed completely still, until Chris noticed she was trembling again.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked.
“Yeah, it’s just …”
“I know you said it’s been a while, but if it makes you feel better, it’s been a while for me too,” he offered.
“No, it’s not that it’s been a while. I mean, I guess, kind of it is but … You know what, never mind, don’t worry about it.” She grabbed his face and tried to keep kissing him, but he pulled away.
“Reese, you can talk to me. I don’t want to do this if you’re worried or unsure.”
“I’m not worried or unsure it’s just that…” Her face was bright red, “I’ve never done this before.” She finally said. Before Chris could say anything, she turned around and opened the door. “I’m sorry, it’s weird, I should go.”
“No, wait, Clarisse,” He grabbed her wrist before she was too far out the door. “We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but I don’t think it’s weird.”
She turned back around. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s totally fine. But, we can wait, if you want, for a more romantic time.” He offered.
She shook her head, “I haven’t been waiting for some perfect romance or anything, I just never felt like I had the right opportunity. There have been opportunities, they just never … felt right, I guess.”
Chris smiled, “So you think I’m the right opportunity?“
She smiled and pushed past him back into the bedroom, “Oh, shut up.”
He kept smiling as he followed her back in, closing the door again. “But this does really work out in my favor. No bar for you to judge me against,”
Clarisse shrugged, “Or over a decade of built up expectations, whichever way you want to look at it.” He could tell she was only half teasing.
“I’m gonna go with my way,” Chris decided, closing the space between them again. He walked Clarisse backwards without breaking their kiss until the backs of her legs bumped into the bed. “Are you sure?” He asked again.
Clarisse just smiled and pulled them both into the bed.