Nothing Special V (Nothing Special 5)
“Here.” Green handed him a piece a little bigger than a half-dollar coin.
They both had to work to get their laughter under control while Steele took aim. When he thought he had it good, he sent the yellow piece of bell pepper sailing into the air across the living room. It didn’t land in Ruxs’ mouth, but it did smack the side of his cheek, making his eyes fly open. The way he smacked his own cheek had Steele and Green almost falling over each other in hysterics.
“You fuckin’ assholes,” Ruxs grumbled, still half asleep, looking around for what had just slapped his face. When he gave up looking for it he flicked them both off and turned his back to them and curled up on his side.
It felt good to laugh. Once they settled down, Green set the board back in front of Steele, and after he massacred the bell peppers for Green’s sauce, he was more than fine with being demoted from sous chef to taste tester.
“It makes no sense, Steele. You can slice tendons and muscles on a human at the perfect angle for maximum damage but you can’t make a semi-straight cut in a bell pepper.” Green shook his head, talking to himself.
They ate their dinner of baked turkey legs and red gravy pasta in front of the television. It looked like he had similar taste in movies to Ruxs and Green, all of them easily agreeing on an old sci-fi flick. Green told him there was a store-bought pie in the refrigerator but it was one of their favorites, and some butter pecan ice cream in the deep freezer. Steele didn’t make him have to say it twice. He made three plates and brought them into the living room. If Green kept up this kind of hospitality, he was never leaving.
They watched the news at ten, all of them laying around like beached whales. Steele had no clue how Ruxs and Green stayed fit. Maybe they were the kind of guys that no matter how much they ate, they never gained too much weight. Shit, he definitely wasn’t one of those guys. He could practically feel his muscle definition diminishing as he laid there.
After Ruxs finished helping Green clean up the kitchen, they said they were turning in.
“You mind if I work out a little, first?” Steele pointed to the equipment in the corner.
“Not at all. Be nice for someone to use it.” Ruxs shrugged, holding Green’s hand, leading him upstairs.
Steele cut off most of the lights downstairs and headed towards the back of the loft. Natural moonlight filtered in from the bay window, allowing him to look around the decent sized alcove. He realized there was enough equipment there for him to keep up a pretty good regimen until he got his apartment. Several sets of dumbbells, a weight bench. There were a treadmill and an elliptical machine. They even had a jump rope and exercise ball lying neatly on a yoga mat. Steele thought to do something light for now since it was so late and his belly was so full. He’d do a few reps on the bench and then a half hour on the elliptical. That should take care of a quarter of the calories he’d consumed at breakfast and dinner.
The workout was nice but way too short. It felt good to stretch his muscles and get his heart rate up, but it wasn’t enough. It also wasn’t long enough for him to decide what he wanted to do about Tech. This was the hardest he’d thought about any man since—
Steele finished his second shower, just to rinse off the sweat from his workout, and went back to his room. He had a television in there but he was in no mood to watch anything else. So far, it was quiet next door, but that would probably change any minute. Steele grabbed the headphones he’d made Ruxs stop by Best Buy for and plugged them into his cell phone. He reclined back on the soft covers, scanning his music selection. He tucked one earbud in his ear, frowning when he couldn’t put in the other one. He’d completely forgotten about his earpiece. Damn, it really was that weightless in his ear that he never noticed it… all day. Tech said it didn’t muffle sounds, so he’d forgotten all about it. He got up to get the magnet-tipped finger to get it out and paused with his discarded jeans in his hand.
Tech
Tech rubbed his tired eyes. He’d been playing Assassin’s Creed on his PlayStation 4 all evening, trying not to keep replaying his refusal of Steele’s date request over and over. He did want him, but he knew, deep down, he was doing the right thing. Sometimes the mind had to prevail over the body’s wants. Tech got in the shower, hoping the hot water would heat him up enough to keep him warm in his cold bed.