“Where do you what now?” 

Evan blinked confusedly at Daniel and Daniel couldn’t really blame him. This fun conversation, with this lovely, interesting guy, had gone south in the split second it had taken Daniel to put his foot in his mouth. 

“Where do I sign up?” He repeated and smiled at Evan, hoping they can bypass his earlier douchebaggery without further embarrassing discussion. 

“You…want to sign up?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to get me to do?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“But?”

Evan’s lips were pursed tightly and a mulish look had set on his face. All right then. He’d have to step up and apologise.

“I’m sorry about my library comment. Sometimes my sense of humour gets a little bit—”

“Ass-holey?” Evan finished with relish.

Daniel winced. “A bit, yeah.”

“Is it because of your cancer or were you always like this?” 

Daniel sucked in a breath at the man’s balls. No one had ever directly questioned him about that. And now he was thinking about Evan’s actual balls, which, he needed to stop, immediately.

“My therapist tends to give me the benefit of the doubt,” he said slowly. “But she didn’t know me before I got sick, so…”

Evan watched him, biting on his lip pensively.

“It’s not like you weren’t right,” he finally said. “About the library, I mean. It’s not a huge crowd-pleaser, we know it. But we’d still like to do it.”

Daniel shook his head and lifted his arms to indicate it wasn’t his business.

“Hey, it’s your thing,” he said. “Just because something isn’t popular doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Besides, I’m hardly your target audience.”

Evan grinned at him. “Not yet, at least.”

Daniel groaned. 

“Come on, let’s sign you up before you leg it out of here and lose your chance to become your best self,” Evan recited with a grave face and pointed to the reception desk where the girl, Jenny, was still engrossed in her phone. “Jenny will sort you out.”

“That was a joke, right? I’m not in search of a life philosophy, just some exercise.”

Evan regarded him with a head tilted to the side. He had a faint splattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and his hazel eyes glinted in the soft light. He seemed to be contemplating something and Daniel suddenly realised that he desperately wanted to know what exactly.

“We’re all out on life philosophies anyway,” Evan said finally. “Besides, that’s probably an additional certification. It took me months to get myself a basic trainer license, all those books and charts of anatomy.”

He shook his head and gave a bark-like laugh as he led Daniel to Jenny. He quickly explained to her what Daniel was here for and she turned out to be surprisingly efficient, if somewhat churlish. Daniel signed up for a trial three-month period, got an access bracelet and a complimentary voucher for a personal training session after which Jenny returned to her stool and her phone as if he wasn’t there. 

Evan watched the entire process leaning against the oak surface of the counter, an excited smile stuck on his face. 

“Welcome to the Gym,” he said, still beaming and extended his hand. Daniel shook it with the gravitas the situation required.

“Thank you, I’m averagely excited to be here,” he said before he could stop himself, but Evan simply laughed.

“Does Tuesday sound good for your first session?” He asked. “I have open slots in the afternoon, but if you’d rather pick another trainer I’m sure we can find something that will work for everyone.”

“No,” Daniel said quickly. “No other trainer.”

Evan looked terribly pleased at that. They hung awkwardly at the counter and Daniel’s mouth, again, got the better of him. 

“Can we discuss my, err, situation before we start?”

Evan looked startled and serious as he nodded and pointed to a little lounge area hidden behind a group of huge fern plants. He lead them there while Daniel closed his eyes shortly, in exasperation. This was stupid. He’d rather not have people treat him differently, and yet, here he was, using his illness to extend his time in Evan’s company. The man was a witch—or was that Daniel’s underused libido finally rearing itself up from hibernation and making him impulsively blurt out things? 

After yesterday’s events he’d gone back home where the strange pulling sensation in his chest had returned. He’d been about to call his doctor for an appointment when it’d suddenly hit him what that was—attraction. He’d been so up in his head over the last year and a half, that he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to feel attraction to someone. It had been such a bizarre experience that it left him dizzy.

They plonked down on the comfy leather furniture and Evan looked at him expectantly. 

Right. “I just wanted to make sure that—” he had no idea what he wanted to make sure. The silence hung awkwardly between them until Evan took matters into his own hands.

“Daniel, are you cleared to go to the gym?” He asked.

Relieved that he had something concrete to focus on, Daniel nodded. 

“Oh, yeah, I was cleared a month ago actually. My immune system is back to normal, so gyms are A ok again.” He thought about his life before cancer and admitted reluctantly. “Or just A ok. I wasn’t a terribly athletic person before.”

Evan nodded, his hazel eyes serious. “Did you have any… surgery? It helps to know if there are limitations we’ll have to work with.”

“No surgery, just chemo. A lot of chemo.”

“Okay, good to know.”

“I have some peripheral neuropathy from the chemo.”

Evan nodded again. “I’ll make a note of it on your chart.” He paused. “And you are currently cancer-free?” 

Evan’s voice was uncertain, as if he didn’t even know if he was allowed to ask. Daniel appreciated the sentiment, especially coming from a guy who probably never had to face anything like that before. Evan did look young and in prime health and fitness. He wore a basic white tee that revealed lean muscles and an enviable body self-assurance, despite it hanging a bit loosely on his body. He moved with grace and power, not exactly strutting, but very close to it. Daniel didn’t think the man knew how striking he was, being as comfortable in his body as this.

“Yep,” he said simply. “Death’s on hold for the time being.”

Evan’s lips twitched. “You sound disappointed.”

“Death is easy,” Daniel shrugged. “And now I have to do life.”

Evan nodded knowingly. “And life is exhausting.”

“Exactly. I was caught off-guard, you know? I had stage four lymphoma.”

“Life does have some advantages, though,” Evan grinned at him.

Daniel groaned. “Are you on my therapist’s payroll?”

“Nope,” Evan said. “But since you did survive, I get to enjoy your hard-earned cash. I know it’s probably not very helpful to you, but I’m broke and my fur baby has expensive taste, therefore it does make a difference to me.”

Daniel gaped. Then he burst out laughing and he didn’t stop for a very long time. In fact, his stomach muscles still hurt when he returned on Tuesday for his first gym session.