Work Text:
When Jun got back to the office after lunch, he found a cheerful Nino and Aiba with his head on the desk.
“I’ve been away for one hour,” he said, exasperated. “What did the two of you do now?”
“Ask him,” Nino chirped, barely containing his hilarity.
Jun crossed his arms and waited for Aiba to fill him in, but when he spoke, the sound was muffled by his desk.
“I can’t hear you like this, Aiba-kun.” Jun clicked his tongue.
Reluctantly, Aiba lifted his head. “I think I asked Sakurai out.”
Jun couldn’t believe his ears. “You did?”
“He didn’t,” Nino chimed in. “He didn’t ask him out, he asked him out to his gym.”
“You what?”
“Nino and I went to the lobby to have lunch with Kazama-kun in his break room, and while we were waiting for the elevator to come back upstairs, we ran into Sakurai.”
Jun gave him a nod to make him continue.
“I saw him take the stairs so I suggested we all did, but Nino bailed on me, so it was just Sakurai and I.”
“I wasn’t going to climb five flights of stairs,” Nino said. “On the contrary, you should thank me for leaving you alone with your crush.”
“He’s not—”
“Not your crush, yeah we know.” Jun rolled his eyes. “And then what happened?”
“I asked him why he always takes the stairs, and he repeated what he said the other day about the gym. So I blurted out that I was going to the gym tonight after work, if he wanted to come along,” Aiba concluded.
“You invited him to your gym?” Jun’s voice sounded like a mix between incredulous and impressed.
Aiba groaned. “I panicked and that happened,” he whined as he threw his head down on his desk again.
“So you’re going to see him work out?”
Aiba made a frustrated sound while Nino laughed.
It was going to be a long day.
Aiba would usually go to the gym on alternate days. He would get off work at a decent time, and run home to change into his work-out clothes before meeting up with his friend Ohno at the gym near his house. He loved training, and after an intense session, he and his friend would usually end the day with a dessert. Aiba loved that part of the evening even more.
But this time it was different. He kicked a stone on the ground while waiting for his colleague to show up, berating himself over and over in his mind. Why did he think it would be a good idea to have Sakurai Sho in front of him, sweating and flexing his muscles?
“Aiba-kun!”
Aiba turned around in the direction of the voice and almost cursed out loud. While his upper body was hidden by his bomber jacket, he could clearly see that on his lower body Sakurai was wearing a pair of shorts over some black leggings that hugged his legs perfectly. It was a far cry from the—however perfectly tailored—suits he used to wear at the office, which still left an air of mystery around the man’s legs; those leggings, on the other hand, really left nothing to the imagination.
“S—Sakurai-kun,” he said with a slight bow of the head when the man stopped in front of him. “Did you find the place okay?”
Sakurai nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
“Good,” Aiba said, just to have something to say. “Well, then… this way.” He led the way to the gym’s entrance door.
Ohno was already inside, napping on the bench while waiting for his friend. He was always like that, he would be resting until Aiba came in and their training session started. Aiba got a visitor pass for Sakurai, and then they both approached the bench.
“Ohno-kun,” he called him while poking him.
Ohno opened his eyes lazily and stretched. “Hello, Aiba-chan.”
“This is Sakurai Sho, one of my colleagues,” Aiba said, pointing to the man.
The two men politely introduced themselves and then the three of them started their training. Aiba put down his bag and took off his jacket, glancing sideways at Sakurai as he took off his too. His eyes travelled on his—fuck—way too muscular shoulders, and down his back, where his tank top was sticking to his figure all too well. Aiba shook his head and followed Ohno to the mats.
“You look distracted today, Aiba-chan,” his friend Ohno told him.
“What?”
“Does that have anything to do with your friend?” he said, pointing in the direction of Sakurai, who was squatting a couple of meters away. Every time Sakurai would bend down, the material of his shorts would stretch around his butt, giving Aiba a perfect view of his buttocks.
“Of course not,” Aiba lied, as he observed with interest Sakurai squat once again.
Ohno snorted and Aiba sent him an irritated look. Sakurai had gotten up, and now he was heading to the vending machine on the other side of the room. Aiba turned to Ohno with a pout.
“You know, you should be more careful. He might hear you and get weird ideas.”
Ohno raised his eyebrows. “If he has eyes and a brain, I think the only ideas he can get are the right ones.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aiba asked, as he grabbed his towel from the floor.
“I’ve only spent half an hour with the two of you and even I realized that you have a crush on him.”
Aiba turned around to look at him so quickly, that he hurt his neck. He groaned and massaged it, shooting his friend a dirty look.
“I don’t have a crush on him,” he hissed at Ohno, who just laughed heartily.
He turned to get back to his weights, and he almost bumped into Sakurai, who, to his horror, was standing right behind him.
“S—Sakurai-kun, uhm…” he stuttered as he stepped back. “How long have you been standing there?”
The man smiled amiably and showed him the three bottles of water he had grabbed from the vending machine. “I just got here, why?”
“Nothing,” Aiba replied, accepting the water.
As Sakurai got back to his pressing bench, he observed him carefully. How much of their conversation had he heard?
For the last thirty minutes of the work-out, Aiba had been more careful not to look in Sakurai’s direction for too long. It didn’t really work, because when he’d stop ogling him, his colleague would do something else to bring his attention back on him, like when he started making noises as he was doing push-ups. Aiba pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Not only hadn’t he been able to take his eyes off of Sakurai the whole time, now he didn’t think he would be able to forget those sounds any time soon.
They stepped out into the cold air, shivering a bit. Going out of the gym after showering with hot water was always the part Aiba hated the most.
“So…” he started, getting Sakurai’s attention. “Ohno-kun and I sometimes go to eat sweets to reward ourselves for the work-out…”
It seemed like something was off with Sakurai, but Aiba couldn't quite put his finger on it. ‘He looks… sad?’ Aiba reasoned, as he observed him.
Sakurai opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Aiba interrupted him.
“Do you want to come?” The words came out before he could stop himself.
“Oh.” The other man seemed taken aback. “I would love to, but I can’t.”
Aiba could barely hide his disappointment, and maybe Sakurai realized, because he added: “But invite me again next time.”
“Next time?”
“Yeah,” he said casually, with a smile that didn’t quite conceal his sadness. “I gotta go, Aiba-kun. Thanks for introducing me to your gym. See you tomorrow at work.”
And with those words, Sakurai all but ran away, leaving Aiba there to wonder what was wrong and if he had anything to do with it.