I see Sean four mornings a week at the gym. He runs the treadmill and I swim, but our schedules are close enough that we arrive at nearly the same time and finish our workouts a few minutes apart.
I thought this a coincidence, at first. But I knew better when I got to know him, and learned to appreciate him in unimaginable ways.
Our lockers are in the same area; you know how it is with routine. From the beginning, I enjoyed the ritual of preparing for our workouts, and if I close my eyes now I can see every detail of the first time I took serious notice of Sean getting ready for his run.
As usual, he arrived in jeans, battered sneakers, a T-shirt and he carried his gear in a knapsack that had seen better days. From two lockers down a little before 5 a.m., he smelled both of sleep and strong musk.
I was ready before he was, wearing a pair of baggy swim trunks. But my goggles needed adjustment, or so I convinced myself, so I sat on the bench tugging at the strap. Of course, this was little more than a cheap excuse to watch him, although with a careful discretion.
Sean was slow and deliberate in getting ready, as though he wasn't going to waste an ounce of the energy he planned to burn on the treadmill. I thought of myself as a card-carrying straight male, and since adolescence I'd not experienced anything even remotely sexual with another guy.
Still, I didn't avert my eyes in the common showers, amid the sight of many other men soaping up, and what's more, I couldn't help but feel a burning curiosity on this morning as I observed Sean.
This was not discouraged by the fact he wore neither boxers nor briefs. I assumed he had rolled out of bed and stepped naked into his jeans, combing his hair with his fingers before stumbling out the door in the dark. With his back to me, he kicked off his shoes, shook out of his shirt then peeled down his jeans, bending at the waist as he stepped out of the faded denim.
Sean was a vision from behind: he had a sharply defined fan of muscle at the upper back, tapering to a trim waist and a round, firm ass, and his powerful hamstrings and calves were sinewy from his running. When he bent naked at this athletic waist, his legs shoulder-width apart, it was me who grew weak at the knees.
His magnificent balls hung fully and tantalizingly between his thighs. They looked heavy, swaying loosely as he moved. I suddenly imagined myself reaching through his legs and taking them in my palm, kneading them, feeling their heat and texture and glorious weight, and when that outrageous idea swept through me, I felt a flood of arousal course through my veins and rush to my groin. Damn good thing I was wearing baggy trunks and not a Speedo.
Sean lingered, and I heard him yawn as he stretched languidly, his back still to me. Slowly he placed his left foot - it is always his left foot first - into the thin strap of his athletic support. Then the right, and almost in slow motion he pulled the nylon and elastic harness up his legs, bending slightly at the knees as his left hand reached in front of him.
It took him a moment to arrange his beefy package in the pouch, and then he smoothed the waistband and hooked his thumbs under the thin straps that cupped his cheeks, pulling them back and snapping them in place. The contrast of the plain white support on his tanned skin was remarkable.
With similar economy of motion, he pulled up a pair of blue Lycra shorts, again digging his hand down the front to adjust himself, then dropped a loose singlet over his head and turned slowly, almost as if to give me the time to adjust my gaze.
"Another day," he said, putting a foot on the bench to lace up a running shoe. I mumbled something equally profound, and then we headed out the locker-room door together before turning in our opposite directions.
"Enjoy your run," I said.