Eddie pretended to lift weights as he vaguely listened to his friends banter about what guys they'd met the night before and what they'd done with them and how they'd gotten rid of them in the morning. They periodically chastised their resident romantic for turning down the various propositions he'd been offered. "…what was wrong with him?"
"He was boring and completely devoid of humor.
"But he was hot." A round of laughs was soon interrupted.
"You lied to me!"
They all turned to watch. Loud personal drama was not a usual entertainment at the gym.
"I didn't lie." This one was tall, pale, short blonde hair, and lean with a set of dumbbells in his hands
One of Eddie's friends commented under his breath, "Twink-is-cute-is of the early twenties variety. Not a rare species, but one worth appreciating."
Now the other half of "Days of Our Lives" made himself known, "Oh, but you did. Did you or did you not come to my house, wake my ass up, and offer pancakes?" This one was shorter, broader, slightly darker skin, and sitting on one of the benches. He didn't really look like he was there to work out. He wore a baggy t-shirt, black rimmed glasses, jeans, and a black knitted winter hat.
"Ah, the nerd variety. Mildly attractive, but terribly insecure and more trouble than he's worth." A few more smirks.
Eddie didn't agree with the classification. "I think he's kidding actually. And take a look at his arms." Peering under the baggy shirt one could see very impressive muscles.
They all watched a little closer now. "Yes I did, but—" The blonde was trying to smile and kept his voice low in the hope the other would do the same. He had no such luck.
"And we are not at this moment eating pancakes." He grinned from the bench.
"I don't think they're a couple." Eddie whispered mostly to himself and feeling himself smile simply because the advocate of pancakes did.
"No, but I thought you'd like to work out a little."
"I don't go to gyms. You know I don't go to gyms. I don't find the idea of the atmosphere of a club with bad music and no alcohol that appealing." The taller one pretended not to be paying attention. "I agreed to pancakes. I did not agree to be your chaperone while you cruise about for someone to give you a hand-job in the bathroom." He'd gotten a little louder, and seemed to enjoy it. He grabbed onto his friend's shirt and pulled him downwards so they were face to face. "So can you please, for the love of God, pick someone at random so I can have pancakes?"
"Are you done?"
"Probably." The blonde one shook his head smiling and continued lifting. The other reclined on the bench and closed his eyes.
"Ya ready to go Eddie?" His friends had given up the pretense of exercising and were headed towards the locker room.
"Not yet, go on though." His friends wandered off and he gathered courage. The tall blonde had wandered off, leaving his loud companion dozing on a bench. He took a deep breath and walked over to the individual taking up a bench to sleep. "I know where there's good pancakes." An eye opened. "Excellent in fact." The other eye opened. "Not far from here actually."
"Your name?" The hat-ed gentleman lazily sat up.
"Eddie Walsh."
"John Trass." John extended a hand and shook Eddie's solidly. "Let me go tell Miss America I'm leaving." He stood on the bench and surveyed the gym like a pioneer. "Simon!" The entire gym went quiet. Eddie followed the direction of John's eyes and gestures to the surprised blonde Simon. "I'm going. Enjoy your mutual masturbation!" Simon turned bright red and looked at the floor a great deal. John hopped off the bench. "You need to change?"
Eddie nodded, his hand still over his grin and being very glad he wasn't Simon.
"I'll meet ya at the front entrance. After 40 minutes I leave." He aimed a very broad grin at Eddie and headed for the front door.
Eddie ran for the locker room.
John was outside as promised. Eddie trotted up to him out of breath and barely getting out "Hi."
Without warning John maneuvered him to a near by wall and gently laid his hand on the center of Eddie's chest. "Breath slowly or you will choke on the pancakes."
Eddie smiled nervously and slowed his breath, painfully aware of John's hand. This did give him the opportunity to get a better look at John, but it only made his nervousness worse. The baggy clothes hid it well, but he was quite solidly built underneath, if one was looking close enough. There were very few if any parts of John's body Eddie didn't want to see up close. Eddie's breath slowed and he looked into John's eyes for a moment. Dark blue.
"You still want pancakes?"
"Absolutely!" John took a step away from Eddie to allow him the freedom of movement should he choose to use it. "Lead the way."
Eddie never had a meal quite like his one with John. John's overly dramatic vocal pattern like an old action adventure story remained a constant. His goal had been to learn more about John, and while he did learn some of how John's mind works he did not learn any facts, such as job or family. They talked about everything else, life, philosophy, literature, movies, but as he watched John walk away after making plans to meet up for an obscure indie film that would never make a dime in a quirky old theatre they some how both knew, Eddie realized something. If he really thought about it, he had no idea if John was gay. Despite the comfort he'd shown with the topic Eddie had to admit he had no clear indication of John's actual orientation. John had a way of steering the conversation to topics that made one forget what the original question was. At the same time Eddie realized that he didn't care. He'd want to get to know John even it was to only be friends.
"What is it with you and pancakes anyway?" Eddie drank his coffee. In the past month he and John hadn't gone more than a week without spending time together. John became a great friend, though Eddie would still wake up with messy sheets and the rements of rated X dreams still in his mind, with John in the staring role. "We end up in one place or other eating pancakes just about every other week."
"It's a nostalgia thing." John looked sheepishly at the table and shoved more pancakes in his mouth.
