JAWS (Complete)

Chapter 3

*GYM + Sauna = hot AF!*

Reiner wakes up early-as he always does, as he has since elementary school-but for the first time in years, he doesn't immediately get out of bed. For one thing, he feels achy and feverish, like he's coming down with something, and his eyes are scratchy and dry, like they're full of sand.

For a moment, Reiner wonders if he's coming down with something, and then he remembers last night. With a groan, he rolls over, pulling his blanket up over his head and sending a cascade of used tissues to the floor. Oh god... did he really...

Yeah, he really did.

For the first time since he discovered the gym and early morning workouts, Reiner decides that physical fitness can wait, and goes back to sleep.

~*~

It's the sun coming through his curtains that wakes him, and even that takes awhile to really sink in. Reiner cracks an eye open and then immediately closes it against the assault of light streaming through his shades; he never sleeps this late, has never been in his bed when the sun is this high in the sky, and maybe he really is sick and should just stay in bed, who knows what kind of weird stuff he could have caught from the strip club...

With a grunt, Reiner flings his blankets off himself and sits up. He's not sick, he's just being a baby, a whiny little overly emotional baby, and he needs to be a man. He needs to face what happened and just deal with it and go on with his life. It's not even like he did anything illegal or particularly distasteful; everything was one hundred percent on the up and up and no one at the firm could argue any different. It might not have been his proudest night ever, but at least it was all on the right side of the law.

A workout. That's what he needs. He needs to go to the gym and lose himself on the machines, really sweat it all out and not come home until he's drenched and trembly with exhaustion. Then he can order takeout, zone out in front of the tv, and get some good, honest sleep tonight. That'll fix what's been bothering him. That'll wash Jaws right out of his mind.

Because that's what he needs. He just needs to forget, and then everything will go back to normal.

With that in mind, Reiner gets dressed in his gym gear, eats a banana-and never mind how putting something that shape in his mouth raises other things to the forefront of his mind-and then he's out the door.

~*~

The gym is super crowded, much to Reiner's dismay. He's used to arriving just as it opens, before dawn during the winter months and just as the sun is rising during the summer, and he's never seen it this busy. He drops his stuff off in his locker, does some quick stretching, and heads to the weights. He has a few people looking at him as he does, and he hears someone ask a friend who the new guy is, but he ignores it; he's long past the age of trying to pick up anyone at the gym, and all he wants today is a work out.

There's a bit of a line up for some of the machines, and Reiner sighs. Free weights it is today, then. He turns, heading towards the free weight benches, and freezes where he stands.

A group of personal trainers, identifiable by their black shirts with the gym name across the shoulders, are clustered around one of the benches. Two of them are guys Reiner has seen around before, and is fairly friendly with, but it's the third one who makes his legs turn to ice and his breath hitch in his chest. He's shorter than the other two, standing with his back to Reiner, his legs spread wide and both his hands occupied with gesturing wildly, fiercely. Reiner can't hear his voice over the throbbing music the gym plays over the loudspeakers, but he sees the reddish-blond hair, short on the sides with the top slicked back, and he knows that when the trainer turns around, he'll have sharp hazel eyes and a quick, shit-eating grin.