Just as Kevin finished his morning push-ups and rewarded himself with a box of Smarties, Hans wandered into the kitchen. He was shirtless and in just his lounge pants, but there was zero appeal there. Unlike Matty, who could be fully-dressed and Kevin still always wanted to see him in less.

Somehow, every thought he had seemed to relate to Matty these days. Kevin resisted the urge to groan at himself.

“Morning.”

“Hey,” Hans answered, eyeing the chocolate. “That allowed?”

“Fuck off, they can’t control me… until next week.” Kevin grinned and dumped the rest of the candies in his mouth. They clicked and rattled around his teeth as he crunched through mouthfuls of hard candy shells and soft chocolate interiors.

“Where are you off to?”

Kevin raised his brows and pointed at his mouth. “Gwrfn aught wo mae.”

“Gross, dude,” Hans laughed and passed him to grab coffee.

Once Kevin swallowed, he answered, “Working out with Matty. You wanna come?”

“Nah.”

“Suit yourself,” Kevin shrugged, picking shell crumbs out of his teeth. “We’re off to the gym. Catch you later.” He grabbed his spare gym bag again, heading back to the bus stop to meet Matty.

It was weird, with Hans. He had less money, so he often complained he couldn’t keep up with Kevin’s training routine, making that a sensitive subject. But he was a member of this same neighborhood gym. He could come along on these sessions and let Kevin pass along what he’d learned. He just… didn’t. Far be it from Kevin to judge, but he seemed to be more interested in video games all summer.

Matty was leaning against the bus stop, and shit, he was hot. He had one foot up, the sole of his shoe pressed against the bus stop glass. His thumbs were hooked in his pockets as he gazed off sideways across the street. White cords led up to his ears, and his bright teal t-shirt with a yellow print drew eyes.

It looked great on him, though.

“Hey.” Kevin waved sideways to catch Matty’s peripheral vision and laughed when he jumped. “Lost track of time?”

“I did there,” Matty admitted, laughing and pushing himself away from the bus stop. He adjusted his gym bag to the other arm and yanked out his earbuds, bundling them into his pocket. “Got here a little early.”

“Early? This time of day?” Kevin teased. “I like your commitment.”

Matty grinned, then turned to keep an eye down the street for the bus. “Ready to get big and hard today?” He threw a wink over his shoulder.

Kevin snorted with laughter. “At least one of those things.” He didn’t look away, though.

Then Matty glanced back down the street. “Here’s the bus.”

Fuck, are we just not gonna talk about it? Apparently not.

Kevin followed Matty onto the bus and hung onto the pole for the short trip to Patson’s Gym. This early in the morning, they might be lucky enough to have the gym—or one room of it—to themselves, at least.

They changed quickly into gym clothes once they hit the locker room, not saying much else. The companionable silence was something else Kevin liked, though.

After warmups, they moved to one of the weight rooms, which was usually quiet. This time of day, it was dead and would be until afternoon when the business guys who lived around here started getting off work. If any other players were there, not many of them were doing weights this time of year. It was their own little world where they got to practice bicep curls and make fun of each other’s toe raises.

“Okay, now for Glenn’s shit,” Matty told Kevin. “He wants us doing core strength exercises, too. We’ve been avoiding them.”

Kevin didn’t want to do the stupid sit-ups and planks and crap. They were boring in comparison to free weights, or the drills they’d be running next week. But if Glenn assigned them, there was a reason.

He groaned, then dropped to his knees on the mat in front of the mirror. “Fine.”

There was a moment where Matty stayed standing and Kevin glanced up at him, then became suddenly hyperaware that Matty was standing right by him, his crotch at eye-level.

Matty was suddenly sinking to his knees, looking everywhere but Kevin as he rolled onto his ass to assume a sit-up position.

That was interesting. Maybe he was feeling the same kind of click between them.

Kevin automatically shifted to grab Matty’s ankles and hold his feet down as Matty folded his hands behind his neck and started crunching.

Matty’s hair was all out of place again, his face already glowing with exertion. He got red so easily, which Kevin found adorable.

Whoa, that’s a weird choice. Kinda cute, Kevin corrected himself.

Each time Matty’s chest brushed his thighs, that brought him just inches away from Kevin, who was crouched by his feet.

And then Kevin’s mind wandered back to a certain gif he’d seen online—a looping video of a guy sitting up, almost exactly like Matty was doing right now, and kissing another guy every time he came up.

Kevin’s cheeks were instantly hot.

“What?” Matty laughed, his voice a breathless half-tone from exertion. His eyes were crinkled in amusement.

Kevin shook his head. “Nothin’,” he tried to drawl, but Matty wasn’t letting it go.

“Whaaat?”

“It’s pretty gay,” Kevin snorted with laughter, smirking playfully at Matty lowering himself to the mat. The word didn’t mean anything. They were just horsing around… like guys did.

Matty sat up again, but this time, he didn’t stop short of his knees. He leaned up and in, quickly pressing his lips against Kevin’s. His lips were warm and smooth and… oh, Jesus, kissable.

Kevin’s chest was hotter than his cheeks, his fingers itching with the urge to pull apart Matty’s ankles and scoot up close to him and kiss the fuck out of him…

“This gay?” Matty teased, his breath warm on Kevin’s lips. His eyes were open, focused on Kevin’s despite their short distance.

Kevin was still almost breathless as he wrinkled his nose. “That’s pretty gay, dude,” he laughed, but he didn’t pull back.

He didn’t necessarily want to discourage Matty. Plus, if it was a game of gay chicken, backing out first would make him the fucking loser here, and he didn’t do losing.

And maybe Matty wasn’t just kidding around.

Kissing once? That was kind of a big thing, even if it was so short a kiss it might as well have been a Quebecer’s “see you tomorrow” kiss.

Kissing twice?

There was something here. Kevin just couldn’t put his finger on it, but boy, did he want to.

Matty’s lips were moving—counting down to ten to the end of his rest break, Kevin realized as soon as Matty lay back again.

On the tenth sit-up, this time, Kevin leaned in impulsively across Matty’s knees, his hands still tight on Matty’s ankles, to kiss him open-mouthed.

Matty’s chest was heaving for breath, but he kissed back hard, their lips and tongues mashing in a quick, fierce spilling over of whatever the fuck they were holding back around each other. Kevin was positive Matty could hear the pounding of his heart, even if he wasn’t the one working out right now.

The sexy fuckin’ sound of kissing and heaving breath was all they could hear, though Kevin was so wound-up he was a coil about to snap from listening to the hallway.

Matty sucked Kevin’s bottom lip and swiped his tongue across it, and then Kevin slid his tongue against Matty’s lips, teasing at the tip of Matty’s tongue and licking his way into his mouth…

Then, he pulled back abruptly, so fucking sure he’d heard footsteps. His lips were flushed and his cheeks probably were, too.

Matty was watching him, the tension in his face nothing Kevin had ever seen from guys fucking around with him like guys did.

He was worried—scared, even—about Kevin’s response.

So Kevin just winked. “More like that gay,” he told Matty, who cracked up laughing.

“Your face is—” Matty started, and Kevin let go of his ankles, sending him lurching backwards. “Hey!”

Kevin grinned. “Sorry,” he pretended to apologize.

“Your turn then, loser,” Matty shoved Kevin, and then…

They were both laughing. Kevin was flat on his back on the mat, Matty kneeling by his side above him. The light behind and above Matty made his blond hairs glow, his face bright and teasing and ruddy red from his sit-ups. His lips were still wet from their kisses.

And Kevin was not going to get a boner, he just wasn’t—not in the middle of the gym, please…

Those were definitely footsteps.

Kevin pulled his feet towards him and pressed them hard into the ground, blocking his view of Matty with his knees as he laced his fingers behind his head.

Whoa, that wasn’t helping. Matty’s fingers were around his ankles, holding him down. Almost boner material right there, let alone everything else that had just happened. Kevin pulled himself up into a first, sloppy sit-up. His form was terrible, but whatever. It would give his cock a little time to settle the fuck down against his thigh, thanks very much.

By the second or third sit-up, he’d pulled his spine straight, and he had a quick glance over.

Hans was rounding the corner of the doorway, looking first into the room across the hall, then into theirs. “Ah, there you are. Hey.”

Kevin’s heart sank. That was the end of their flirtation for the day, then. “Thought you weren’t coming!” He flopped back on the mat to look up and over in his direction.

“Nah, me too. But it wouldn’t kill me to get on the machines once in a while, I figured,” Hans shrugged, his gaze flickering between the two of them. “Hey, Matty.”

“Hey.”

Kevin watched Hans move over to the hip abductor. When his gaze returned to Matty, Matty gave him a quick nod, but that playful rogue was gone. This was all-business Matty, working out like it was his job.

Which it was—for both of them. Sure, he got enough time off in the summer to handle all his adult life affairs like dentistry and taxes, and see his buddies when they flew into Toronto, but he still had to stay fit.

Kevin restarted his sit-up count at zero.

Once they were done with sit-ups, they planked for as long as they could handle, then moved over to the yoga mats to stretch.

None of them said anything yet. The weights clanked up and down on Hans’s machine as he grunted through his exertion, and Kevin and Matty’s joints cracked now and then as they stretched out their bodies from head to toe.

A couple minutes later, Hans exhaled an audible, “Whew.” He was leaning back on the bench, taking a moment’s breather.

Oh, yeah. Now that Hans was around, Kevin remembered the other thing he didn’t really wanna ask his roommate, but he should. “Hey, Hans. Dude, Matty and a couple of his buddies and I are going to a cabin this weekend.” He glanced at Matty to confirm the invitation was still sound. “You wanna come?”

“Yeah,” Matty chimed in. “If you want, there’s room for one more.”

When Kevin twisted around for a look, Hans was sitting up and wiping his forehead. “Nah, man. I’m meeting up with a bunch of our team to practice this weekend. Last weekend before camp, ya know? Thanks, though.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s cool,” Matty waved it off. “Just thought I’d offer, man.”

“Thanks, man,” Hans automatically answered.

Kevin’s body ached as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. “Well, Jesus fuck, b’ys, that’s it for me.”

Matty burst out laughing. “You going Newfie on us now? You from there?”

“No, no,” Kevin laughed. “But I got a buddy or two who’s rubbed off on me.”

And by buddies, he meant his ex-boyfriend, who’d gone to university out in St. John’s. Their last year had been long-distance, and on the rare occasions they’d gotten a chance to get together…

Yeah, he had rubbed off on him.

Kevin’s cheeks were hot again as he strode for the weight room door. “See you, Hans. Be home later, maybe after supper.”

“Kay,” Hans answered bluntly, his voice short as he hauled down on the pulleys he tightly gripped, his breath coming in quick pants. “See you.”

Matty raised a hand and followed after Kevin to the locker room.

With a couple other guys around, Kevin didn’t dare make a move on Matty in the shower, even teasingly, to try to get a feel for his chances.

Instead, he waited until they were dressed and strolling through the gym lobby.

“I gotta split today,” Kevin told Matty with a reluctant smile. “Gotta get my teeth fixed up.”

“Yeah? I did that a couple weeks back, and I’m doing taxes now,” Matty laughed. “God, our lives are weird.”

“It’s our own calendar,” Kevin agreed, holding the gym door open for Matty as they stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked to the bus stop. “Spring cleaning happens in summer.”

Matty snorted with laughter. “Nicely put. Okay, I’m grabbing a bus here.”

“I’m heading off that way.”

“Cool. Okay.”

There was a moment there that they hadn’t had with Matty’s roommates around. Kevin honestly wasn’t sure whether to go for a back-slap, a handshake, a hug…

…Or a kiss.

Matty’s eyes flicked down to Kevin’s lips.

But no fucking way. Not in front of the gym, with Hans around and probably other players. And a couple people waiting at the bus stop here, some stepping forward towards the curb.

Kevin glanced down the road—the bus was approaching.

When he looked back at Matty, the moment was gone and Matty just slapped his shoulder. “Good luck with your teeth, man. They look all right, though.”

“Thanks.” Kevin laughed at the weird compliment, but he’d take it.

“I’ll give ‘em something to do if you like.” Matty pretended to punch him in the mouth like they were on the ice and the gloves were off.

Kevin laughed and shoved him off him, so Matty shoved back, and Kevin braced himself.

Oh, my God. We’re like teenage boys.

The bus was slowing down now, so Kevin just leaned in for a quick half-hug. “Catch you later. I got a buddy visiting tomorrow, so I might bring him along.”

“Cool,” Matty smiled, but there was a flicker there—disappointment?

Shit. Maybe he wanted to properly make out.

They could make time for that… and space. Kevin would find a way. Kick Hans out? Invade Matty’s place until all his roommates were out? If Matty said the word…

But instead, Matty raised a hand and stepped onto the bus, and Kevin was left watching after him like a forlorn lover.

Fuuuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He wants to be alone with me.

Kevin couldn’t handle the way that made his heart hammer with joy.