JE-united surprise fic for 64907 Part 1/3

Jan 27, 2016 14:32


Gift fic for 64907

Title: How to make proper use of Exercise Balls
Pairing: Sho/Jun
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Explicit sexual content
Summary: Uptight business men - including Sho - do not stop being uptight just because their gym trainers have nice legs. Or do they?
Notes: This ended up being way longer than I initially expected. Blame the explicit scenes. I hope you like it (: Special thanks to my beta M for reading this through so fast.


Part 1 of 3

When Sho made his way down to the gym for the first time, he had not imagined he would be visiting the place more than twice a week. Despite his packed schedule at work, he refused to do nothing and sit on his ass all day, tapping away on a keyboard till his back hurt. As a man, he had his dignity and his pride, and taking care of his own body was not something he was indifferent about. Besides, Sho was well aware of how much he liked food - he could not keep joining his colleagues for beer and food after work without doing some kind of exercising. He had been running about once a week and done regular exercises on his living room floor to convince himself that he was staying in shape - but he could only do the running before the sun went down, and more oft than not, he had to stay in the office till well past six. Which meant that the running promise to himself was something he had a hard time keeping.
Now standing with his gym bag slung over one shoulder, Sho’s first thought was that this was definitely not his thing. Slim women were crowding the treadmills, men with big muscles using the pec deck machines. But then he spotted all the soft office workers on the bikes, bouncing on the ridiculous exercise balls, doing their best to do crunches, and Sho felt a bit better. He headed to the changing room to drop his bag and decided to get started.

Since he had been training during his high school days - playing soccer and going to the gym with his group of friends - Sho did not consider himself a newbie with the training machines. Since none of the treadmills were free, Sho chose to warm up his body on one of the training bikes. While pushing forward, chasing an unseen thing in front of him, Sho found himself forgetting the stacks of paperwork he had to do, the meetings he had to attend, the colleagues he had so socialize with, and it did not take long for him to get addicted to the freedom the trip to the gym brought him.

From the day he finished his master’s degree from college, Sho had been walking in his father’s footsteps. Every day he was pushing himself and pushing himself at work to get things done, to grow in the firm, to fight his way towards the top where his father was currently waiting for him to succeed him. Sho had always been brilliant and hard-working which made this path all the more obvious. He had known his whole life that this was his future, that this was the way he was heading - everything so far had been planned out for him; where he was to live, where he was to study, where he was to work. The only piece missing in his life as his father’s successor was a proper wife - a woman his parents had tried to find for him for the past five years, setting him up in various meetings. Unfortunately, none of the women had been compatible with Sho. For reasons obvious to only Sho.

All these expectations and the pressure seemed to evaporate when training, Sho came to discover on the very first day - he could retreat into himself and forget the world around him. When he left the gym that evening, it was with a smile reaching from ear to ear.

“This is a totally awesome gym, Sho-chan, I can’t believe you did not come here before,”

Aiba, Sho’s co-worker was brimming with energy, and Sho could sense already now that this would become a hard session if he was to keep up with this guy.

Sho noticed how Aiba gave him a good look-over, “You look like someone who works out quite often, though Sho-chan. You sure you haven’t worked out before?”

“Of course I’ve worked out before,” Sho answered very quickly, a hint of annoyance in his voice, maybe from the fact that he did not want his co-worker to think he wasn’t in good shape. Damn, he would fall behind so badly today, “But since the year started, there’s just been so much work to do. You ought to agree with me. Because you did stay late to finish work on some days too, didn’t you Aiba-san?” With these words, Sho raised an eyebrow and gave Aiba a stern look.

The other man seemed to blush at that and forced out an, “O- Of course Sho-kun. Now, let’s get started?”

As soon as he turned around to head for the lockers, Sho grinned to himself with this discovery of what he could use against Aiba, should he need to.

He hoisted up in the bag on his shoulder and just as he went towards the changing room as well, his eyes caught sight of a person just in the corner of the gym. His eyes were drawn to the outrageous purple shirt and the black tights, but since he was already in movement, he did not stop to ogle at the man. Though as soon as he removed his eyes and his focus, he could’ve sworn the guy was gorgeous, all long limps and broad shoulders.

An hour later, Sho was panting hard, forcing himself to keep running and running and running. Beside him, Aiba was still pressing on, sweat running down his neck and the side of his face, but otherwise not looking as if he would stop anytime soon. Oh great.
They had been at it for the greater part of two hours, and Sho’s muscles were screaming for them to stop soon. They’d decided - or rather Aiba had decided - to finish the session with a fast run, but apparently a fast run did not mean a quick run, but a long run in a high tempo. At least, to Sho’s liking, it seemed way too long. Throughout the training session, he had struggled to not stop even if he wanted to. His stubbornness did not allow him to take a break when Aiba continued - there was just no way he would let himself appear the weaker one. And he had had his small victories; he could lift more weight than Aiba in dumb bells and he was way better at the dipping bars than Aiba. Even so, his colleague seemed to have more stamina than him when it came to running. Though he did sweat a great deal more than Sho.

Sho found himself grinning at the thought, and he realized he was seemingly mocking his colleague when Aiba turned his head and smiled brightly at him, though with question marks in his eyes. Sho just shook his head at him and turned to the control screen of the treadmill to turn it off,

“I’m out of juice. Sorry Aiba-san,”

Sho slowed down to a walk until the machine stopped, and stepped off the moving platform. The gym had emptied out considerably while the two men had been training, and the lights outside had faded too, turning day into night. Sho found himself looking forward to eating a late dinner with a great conscience. He bent down to pick up his water bottle and with one hand lifted his towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead and bangs which tended to get soaked too, and that was when his eyes caught sight of the purple shirt again, his back facing Sho and Aiba’s direction. The guy was still at it? This time, Sho allowed himself to look at the man, to let his eyes sweep over his broad back, his powerful shoulders, his long legs and the way his muscles moved underneath that tight shirt. Sho found that he was unable to restrain himself in his staring, rude as it might seem. But how could he, when this man was just too good-looking for him not to stare? Sho licked his lips unconsciously.

Maybe Aiba had had enough too, because he suddenly stepped down from his machine behind Sho, nearly knocking into Sho who was frozen in the place just beside the treadmills, and exclaimed an ‘ouf! Sorry.’, just as Sho snapped out of it. Sho blinked and reluctantly turned to a very sweaty Aiba.

“You finished?” he asked, and felt the dragging in his body to turn. To look at the guy with the tights again.
Aiba nodded, panting rapidly as he lifted a water bottle to his lips and took a long drag,

“Let’s go shower then,”
When Sho turned around again, he stole one last glance over at the pulleys, marvelling at the strength in that man’s shoulders and upper back. He hoped he would see the man here again.

The next day Sho was sore as hell. He realized that he might’ve pushed himself beyond the healthy point and his muscles were begging for a break. So even if he did not feel like it - because he really wanted to look at purple shirt and tights again - he decided to take a break from the gym for two days and instead he went running one evening and did his usual evening exercises on the floor. Despite his sore muscles, he found that he had a lot more energy in general, a more positive approach to the work in front of him on his working desk, and things seemed to get done much faster than usual. Even Aiba popped his head into his office the following day after their gym-session, stating how Sho looked much brighter than he had for a while. Of course that had made Sho happy to hear, and he once more thanked Aiba for accompanying him, even if it disabled him from spreading his legs too wide. Thus he also contemplated whether it was a good idea to train with his colleague again.

After two days, he went to the gym by himself again. After changing out of his crisp suit, he went to work on something named: ‘Hammer Strength machine’. He had seen other people in the gym use it, but had never tried it before by himself, and seeing as there did not appear to be anyone here right now whom he could make a particularly big fool out of himself in front of, he had the courage to try out the machine. He had been adjusting the machine for a while, pulling a bit in this and a bit in that, when a voice suddenly interrupted him on his way into his own mind where he wanted to be while training,

“Do you know how to use this?” the voice was dark and a bit sceptic, so Sho looked up, prepared to tell the person off, stating that of course he knew, pff.

He found himself staring into a set of beautiful bright brown eyes, framed by long eyelashes, and his mouth was suddenly very dry,
“Um…”

“If you don’t know how to use a machine, you shouldn’t,” the purple shirt guy - who was wearing a tight black shirt today - placed his hands on his hips and gave Sho a look of stern disapproval, “You could hurt yourself.”

Sho really wanted to tell this man off. With the way he was standing there, all bossy and full of himself… If he wasn’t so damn good-looking, Sho definitely would’ve told him to mind his own bloody business. But then again, he must’ve had a reason to come over here and tell Sho to stop what he was doing. And he kind of could see the man’s logic.

“I see.” He started before he let go of the handles of the machine and stood up to come face to face with the man, “But tell me then…” Those brown eyes were even prettier up close, and as they stood at almost equal stature of height, Sho had to ignore the graceful neckline and the collarbones poking out from under the shirt the man wore, even as they flashed themselves at him, “How am I supposed to learn how to use the machine when I am not allowed to try it?”

Sho crossed his arms now, looking at the other man defiantly, but instead of provoking the guy, what Sho had said was apparently very amusing, since a smirk now appeared to grace purple-shirt’s strong features,

“Well, you can ask me?” with the suggestion, he smiled triumphantly, and Sho found himself even more reluctant to allow this guy to show off. And so, Sho flashed him a crooked grin of his own. No, he was not impressed,

“I train better on my own, thank you very much,”

And with that, he went closely past the man, letting their shoulders slightly graze one another. His pride had been speaking, but it had still felt wrong to just give in that easily with the way the man was clearly provoking him and attempting to show off. Of course, Sho knew he would definitely not mind watching the guy flash his skills, but it would not be happening on Sho’s expense. And they would get another chance. With the way the air had cracked when Sho walked past him, he knew the guy would come at him again. Sho felt the way the smile pulled at the corners of his mouth and could not wait for the man to make a second attempt. Maybe Sho had not been the only one to look at how gym clothes looked on the other guy? Maybe someone else had studied Sho too. As much as the thought thrilled him, it also brought along the aspect of purple-shirt knowing how he failed to keep up with Aiba yesterday. That was a much less nice thought.

Sho spent half an hour on the treadmill and ten minutes on the Bench Press before moving to work on training his upper back muscles and shoulders on the Lat Pulldown machine. He had just finished his first round of 20 x 132 lbs, when he felt a presence behind him.

Sho did not have to pause and consider who it was, he could guess and it made him smile, back safely turned towards the man,
“Have you come to tell me that I am doing this wrong?” he asked, knowing for sure that he was using this machine correctly. Grabbing onto the handle again, he started his second round.

“No. But I am sure you could lift more than 132.” The man stated, and Sho let the words hang for a few seconds answering.
“If I lifted more, you would probably tell me I was lifting too much and that I was hurting myself,” Sho’s snarky comment earned him a deep chuckle, and he found himself wishing he could see the guy’s face in that moment. He took a deep breath and finished the 20 pull-downs before continuing: “Who are you anyway? Why do you keep such a close eye on me?”

Sho wiped his hands on the small white towel around his neck before he finally turned towards the man, rising from the bench from where he had been sitting. He made it just in time to see the guy tilt his head to one side, eyes studying Sho’s probably red and sweaty face. He smiled. And Sho was glad his cheeks were already puffed and pink.

“I work as a personal trainer in this gym,” he brought his hand down to turn an ID card on his hip for Sho to see, “I’m Matsumoto Jun.”
Sho looked down, read without reading, because at this moment, he found himself having to face an embarrassment. He had just rejected, and probably insulted, an experienced man in the arts of working out properly, and Sho did not know where this put him on Matsumoto Jun’s list of people he disliked. Crap.

“Ah, Matsumoto-san, I am terribly sorry, I did not know…” Sho started and rubbed his neck, losing all his previous vigour.
Matsumoto just grinned at him and lifted his hand in a dismissive gesture, “It is not a problem. There was no way for you to know, since you are new to the gym.”

Nodding dumbly, Sho rubbed his nose in the towel. Well wasn’t this great. Being new was the only excuse he could use, that much was certain.

“I’ll try again, if you want: I could help you train? Show you how everything works and possibly get you in great shape faster than if you train only by yourself,” Matsumoto’s smile was getting bigger and bigger the more he told Sho about his incredible capabilities, “I’d also recommend making a food program, to ensure that you get the proper nourishments in accordance with your training. Oh, and if you’d like, I even offer a workout schedule, in case you are unable to come to the gym and have to work out at home.”
When he finally finished, Sho stared at him, eyebrow raised, not quite sure whether he was willing to take Matsumoto up on the offer. Sure, the guy was freaking hot, and those legs in black tights were a blessing, but he was just so enthusiastic-looking that Sho felt a little intimidated. He feared that this guy was even worse than Aiba to work out with. Sho would probably find himself walking like an old man with all the soreness intense training would lead to, and he just was not sure whether he would prefer to look 50 years older, sitting in front of his computer in his office, groaning all the while.

Matsumoto’s proud smile was still aimed at him though, and Sho could not help but find that bright expression irresistible. He wondered what a personal trainer would cost him,

“Thank you for your very kind offer, Matsumoto-san,” he started and caught Matsumoto licking his lips, “I promise I’ll consider it, and I can give you an answer next time we meet.”

Light flashed in Matsumoto’s eyes and Sho did not fail to notice that there was a slight upwards pulling at the corner of his smile for a second, but then he bowed, a sign of acceptance.

“Take all the time you need, and let me know when you decide.” With those words, and another bow, Matsumoto left Sho to his training again.

Sho realized he’d forgotten what he had been planning to work on after the Lat Pulldown and heaved a deep sigh while running a hand through his hair. Maybe a personal trainer actually wasn’t such a bad idea.

The following day at work was very busy for Sho. Despite the tight schedule, the man managed to be on time for every single meeting he had, to hand in all his reports on time and also to stop by a colleague’s office to check up on his work with some of the calculations Sho needed to finish the monthly report of their section of the company. Sho knew the section had been doing well, and he couldn’t get the results fast enough, so that he could show the superiors that he indeed knew what he was doing as head of this department.
Around 8 pm. his secretary appeared in the door to his office, one arm working its way into the sleeve of his coat,
“I’ll be leaving for the day if there is no more I can do for you, Sakurai-san.”

Sho raised his tired eyes from the blurry paperwork in front of him, and gave his secretary a small smile,
“That is fine, Ninomiya-san, thank you for your hard work today. We managed to be on time with everything thanks to you,” and Sho meant what he said. He could not have had a better co-worker than Ninomiya Kazunari. Sho had been blessed since the man was hired two years ago. The two of them had grown up together, and having Nino as his right-hand man had proven to make life both easier and livelier at Sho’s working place.

“Nonsense, Sho-chan,” Sho couldn’t help the smile when Nino dropped the politeness. It did not suit the man anyway, “Thank you for your hard work. See you tomorrow.” And with a small wink, he left Sho with the rest of his work.

As the quiet settled around Sho alone in his office, he hurried to finish so he could head home too, to a long shower and a nice take-out dinner.

*

Of course, it was not very polite to spy on people. And Sho was all about manners. He would not call this spying though. It was more like observing. And observe he did. As Matsumoto ran faster and faster on the treadmill, Sho leaned against the wall just outside the locker room, eyes on him for just a moment longer, just another minute. It was rude to interrupt anyway. Sho had decided to take Matsumoto up on his offer and try this personal training for at least a short period of time. It would probably motivate him even more to come to the gym too if someone made a special training program for him, forcing him out of the door even on weekends and rainy days. Especially if that someone was always wearing tights and very fitting shirts. The fact that Matsumoto was once again wearing dark purple made Sho smirk. He wondered if it showed more than just the fine lines of the man’s back.

Finally, Sho pushed away from the wall and walked towards the treadmills. At this hour, aside from Sho and Matsumoto, there were about five people around the gym, plus the receptionist. Not too many to get in the way when using the machines, and not so few that it would feel awkward. Keeping the tempo rather low, Sho had time to let his eyes travel up and down Matsumoto’s body a few times before he reached the machine, where he decided that why should he interrupt the trainer after all? Instead of being annoying and poking Matsumoto while he was running this fast, Sho chose to jump onto the treadmill right next to Matsumoto. Pretending like it was nothing, as if it meant nothing, he started the machine in a nice, steady tempo, warming up his muscles slowly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Matsumoto turn his head once, but only very briefly, before looking straight forward again. That he had acknowledged Sho’s presence was enough for Sho. He knew how much he himself went into his own mind during training, why shouldn’t Matsumoto do the same? And at the stupidly fast tempo he was going at, Sho imagined it would be dangerous to get distracted. Even Sho did not want to see Matsumoto fall flat on his face on that machine. So he forced his focus back onto the running alone, and sped up a bit after a few minutes. Yes, he had made up his mind about personal training, but he was in no rush, not really, so he could wait. With the speed of Sho’s machine, he could’ve easily turned his head to look at the man just twenty centimetres from him, but he would not give Matsumoto the pleasure of knowing that Sho was staring at him. As hard as it was to keep his focus elsewhere.

Just as he finally started to forget where he was and who was beside him, the deep know-it-all tone of voice broke the silence,
“Are you serious? It is no proper warm-up if you go that slow.”

Sho smirked. He wasn’t even embarrassed. Actually, he had been waiting for Matsumoto to say something like that. Because Sho could already guess that Matsumoto was that type of person. So, when Sho turned his head to face the man who stood sweaty and panting beside Sho’s treadmill, he acted ignorant,
“Really? Can you show me the best way then?”

Matsumoto’s eyes shone dangerously, and Sho knew he’d caught on, that Sho was mocking him. Acting like this, Sho did know he risked insulting Matsumoto to the extent that the man would be mad at him and even go as far as to throw him out of the gym, but judging by Matsumoto’s behaviour so far, Sho couldn’t image him not rising up to a challenge like this. On the contrary, he would want to show Sho how wrong he was to make fun of the art of training the body.

“For warming up,” Matsumoto started and turned to the control board of Sho’s machine and pointed to the buttons, “You should steadily increase your speed until you feel your muscles stretching out a bit. That will increase the flexibility of the muscles and thus increase the outcome of your training. It is ok to only warm up for about 10-15 minutes, and then you can always end your session with a faster run for about 20 minutes to burn calories and stretch your muscles again.”

Sho had to admit later that he caught only half of what Matsumoto told him. The cause was him trying his hardest not to get distracted by the bobbing of Matsumoto’s Adam’s apple, and the way the beads of sweat kept running down that long neck of his.
Matsumoto turned to face him, “Understand?”

After Sho nodded, he continued: “I take this as a sign that you’ve decided to let me personally train you?” That sounded way too good in Sho’s ears. It would give him an excuse to study the moles on Matsumoto’s face too, “I’m warning you though, I won’t go easy on you.” - Or maybe not.

To increase the dramatic effect, Sho turned off the machine, before flashing Matsumoto a grin,
“Sure, I can take it. Don’t hold back, Matsumoto-san,” Sho bowed his head slightly, “I am Sakurai Sho. I look forward to working with you.

And Matsumoto smiled back at him, “As you wish, Sakurai-san. We can get started whenever you want?”

Matsumoto broke eye contact to reach for his water bottle. Even the bottle matched a professional, Sho noted when he looked at the name in big bold letters on the thing. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was something other than water in that bottle. Who was Matsumoto anyway? Sho was sure he had never heard the name Matsumoto Jun in the news - was he just a crazy fitness nut flashing professional equipment then?

“Thursday?” Sho suggested, taking the chance to peek at Matsumoto’s light brown eyes again, “I hope to finish at work no later than 7 pm.”

“7 pm. on Thursday,” Matsumoto sucked on the straw of the drinking bottle, and Sho clenched his jaw, “Suits me fine. Until then, enjoy your training Sakurai-san,”

After answering his bow with one of his own, Sho turned back to the control board of the treadmill, forcing himself not to turn and look after Matsumoto.

“More Sakurai-san! Yeah, that’s good! One more! Push forward! Come one, don’t give up now, we’ve barely done ten of these!”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Did you not notice how much weight you put on this?!”

Sho’s muscles were screaming, his throat was dry and his limps were shaking, and still Matsumoto pushed on. He pushed Sho more than he imagined the trainer would do. Ok, admittedly, there must’ve been a reason for Matsumoto to have gained such a ridiculous V-shape, but this was insane. Really? They’d been at it for around two hours, and Matsumoto had apparently decided to let Sho work extra hard in a final spurt on the Bench Press, yelling at him if he as much as thought of giving up.

“I… Can’t!” Sho forced out as the lifted the barbell.

Matsumoto was there to grab hold of the thing, should he judge it necessary, but Sho knew that there was no way he’d let Sho off easily,

“Nonsense. You can take one more, come on, we want to reach 20 and then we can both go home. Come on, yes, exactly, push on.

Just two more,” Sho had totally changed his mind about liking Matsumoto’s voice, “The faster you finish, the happier both of us will be.”

Sho grunted and tsked at Matsumoto as he forced out the last two pushes. He had no idea where the stamina came from. Maybe it was his annoyance over the trainer, or maybe he just did not want to lose, or maybe he wanted to show pretty Matsumoto that of course he was able to do this, damn it.

The sound of Matsumoto slapping his thighs with both hands met Sho’s ears when he let out one last, staggered grunt and let go of the bar, placing it above him,

“That’s how you do it. Good job!” Matsumoto praised him, and Sho couldn’t help the warmth spreading in his chest. He felt proud of himself, and hearing Matsumoto praising him so easily made Sho turn his head on the soft bench and beam at him. Matsumoto mirrored his expression and got up from the crouch he’d been sitting in,

“Yup, that’s it for today, Sakurai-san.” He said, looking down because Sho still did not make a move to get up from the bench where he
lay panting, hands resting on his chest, “Let us set a time for the next session?”

Oddly enough, with that, Jun suddenly turned around and left Sho. It made Sho sit up and look after the man, eyebrow raised in insecurity. Then he snorted and forced his legs to carry him up and over to his water bottle and towel. Like this, Matsumoto just expected him to come with him. It was so unnatural for someone like Sho who was always the one to command others, and never was the one commanded, which was why he felt like annoying Matsumoto by taking his time to drag the towel around his sweaty neck and walk slowly over to the corner with the abdominal bench and the exercise balls where Matsumoto had placed himself on the former. He was just sitting there, looking at Sho expectantly, and Sho couldn’t help but once more marvel at how attractive the other man was. His hands were resting on his knees and his legs were parted slightly. Sho felt a pulling in his body that he had to ignore. He stopped in front of Matsumoto,

“Next session?” Sho asked, letting Matsumoto lay down the first possible days for him.
Matsumoto licked his lips, “Weekends are off for me, but we can meet first thing on Monday if you have the time after work, Sakurai-san?”

There was a meeting on Monday. And Sho had no idea how long it was going to be dragged out - they would discuss this month’s statistics and revenue of their section, and Sho already knew there were a few people he had to ‘discuss’ some things with.
He grimaced, “Monday might not be so good for me. How about Tuesday?”

“Hm,”
Sho raised his eyebrows at the sound, which he had no means of understanding. Did Matsumoto disapprove? The trainer leaned back on the bench, stretching his arms behind him, and Sho caught himself staring at the way the black shirt stretched too and crept farther up Matsumoto’s chest,

“I am not happy that it’ll almost be a week until we meet again,” Sho felt his ears get red, “But if you promise me you’ll train by yourself a few hours in the weekend, Saturday or Sunday, then Tuesday is fine. You have to train though, or this session will have been for naught, and we might as well start all over again on Tuesday.”

Sho did not want that. So he nodded his agreement,

“I promise. Should I do the same circle on the machines as the one we did today?” he asked and was rewarded with a crooked smile from Matsumoto,

“Exactly. I think that’ll be for the best in the beginning.”

The two of them agreed on a time for their session on Tuesday which would be when Sho finished work in the evening, and then they parted ways. In the shower, Sho once more dreaded the sore muscles he’d have the following day at work.

Over the weekend, Sho went for a short run on Saturday to loosen his muscles since he was still sore as hell. On Sunday he went to the gym and did his best to go through the same exercises as the ones he’d done with Matsumoto. It went ok, but Sho found that it was a lot harder to do as many pairs with the same weight as he’d done on Thursday with Matsumoto beside him, and he realized why personal trainers had become so popular amongst people going to the gym. It made a huge difference.

The meeting on Monday dragged out as expected for Sho. Around 9 pm. he glanced at Ninomiya and noticed how red his eyes had become. The whole group was tired, but as the head of the office, Sho had to push through until they finished discussing all the topics for the day.

After the meeting, he pulled the two people he’d planned to talk to, aside and gave them a warning, that if they did not step up their game, it would have consequences for their positions in the company. He was promised that they’d work harder.

At night he went to bed after 1 am., and on Tuesday he got up again at 5. Despite the lack of sleep, he spent the day at the office looking forward to working out later. He told himself it was because he couldn’t wait to focus his mind on the training instead of paperwork, and not because of his handsome personal trainer.

Ninomiya told him he was smiling when he left the office at 7 pm. as planned. Maybe he was, he definitely felt better than he’d done on Monday where he knew exactly what he was missing during the meeting. Despite this, he could not ignore the fatigue he felt when he finally arrived in the gym. It was 7 pm., and he definitely felt the consequences of working through the weekend. There was no letting it show when Matsumoto appeared in front of him though,

“Sakurai-san, nice to see you again. Did you manage to do what we agreed on during the weekend?” Matsumoto was looking expectant, arms crossed and with a grin on his face.

“I went through the same program as we did on Thursday,” Sho told him, and smiled a bit apologetically, “But it was really hard for me to get through all the exercises as many times and with as much weight as we did on Thursday. I did my best but…”

Matsumoto brushed him off with a lifted hand, “That’s totally ok,” Actually, Sho found Matsumoto looked like he was happy about it, and not worried, “Go change, and meet me at the treadmill.” Tonight, as he had on previous days, Matsumoto was wearing black tights and a sports shirt, and as much as Sho thought he’d gotten used to it, he still stared as soon as the trainer turned around and gave him a good look at his assets. Sho wondered whether it was normal for people to look so good in sports clothes. He knew that with his black sweatpants and plain shirt, he was not exactly a hunk - and there was no way he looked half as good in his sports shirt as Matsumoto. But then again, Sho did spend most of his time in an office and Matsumoto in his gym. One had to consider that difference between them.

Despite not wanting it to show, when Matsumoto pushed him and told him encouraging words beside him on the Leg Press, the Cables and the Lat Pulldown that day, it was evident that Sho struggled with the number of exercises, with the weight they’d put on.
It caught Sho off guard when Matsumoto changed plans,

“Follow me to the corner,” he said and forced Sho to rise from the bench, questions unsaid.
In the corner of the room, there was a huge cot laid out over the floor where people stood or sat, using a variety of smaller tools: Dumb Bells, exercise balls, rubber bands and mats.

Matsumoto turned to face Sho when Sho joined him on the cot, “When you exercise, it is important not only to train your strength and stamina, but your core muscles-,” it was so sudden that Sho almost yelped when Jun poked two fingers gently to his upper stomach muscles, below solar plexus, “and your flexibility,”

A smug smile was on his lips as he removed his fingers again as if he knew exactly how stiff Sho was and always had been,

“So,” Matsumoto turned around, “I suggest we work with the balance balls and some simple free exercises before we finish today.”
It was clear that Matsumoto had not failed to notice how sloppy Sho’s movements were today, but he refrained from commenting on it, something which Sho was incredibly thankful for. He knew he could’ve done better, he did not need a trainer to tell him that. Matsumoto didn’t shove it in his face - that he was lazy or too tired or too weak. Sho couldn’t help but smile at Matsumoto’s perception - though he did not end the session just because Sho was tired, instead he changed it to Sho’s needs - which made Sho respect him all the more. There was something other than just the great physique to Matsumoto’s character, and with each session, Sho got the impression that Matsumoto was more than just a smug fitness nut with training clothes which were too tight, and an eagerness to show off; he was also a very attentive and caring person.

There was one thing which came to annoy Sho though, once the trainer started to let him bend and stretch on the ball in all kinds of odd positions: While Sho was scrunching up his face in various grimaces due to the pain of stretching, Matsumoto was poking at him, telling him to move this, move that, turn like this, and ‘did he feel it stretching here? - because then he was doing it correctly’. And Sho wanted to yell at Matsumoto to just stop because it tickled and he was getting red in his face - and not only from concentration and exertion. Once, Sho even let out a yelp when Matsumoto unexpectedly pulled his leg,

“You have to stretch your leg out. Seriously Sakurai-san, is that really impossible for you?” he asked, and Sho grunted,

“I’m terribly s-sorry, Matsumoto-san,” was all he could get out in an annoyed tone, before clenching his teeth.
When Matsumoto laughed, he wished he could stretch his leg so he could kick the fucker in the face for making fun of him. Matsumoto did not even apologize. With his head almost touching the floor, he suddenly got an idea,

“Can’t you show me then?”

If Matsumoto expected Sho to be able to do these exercises, he himself should show Sho exactly how it should be done, there was simply no other way around it.

Sho turned on the ball and got up rather ungracefully as the ball started to roll away from him. With a snort, he concluded that he already hated the bright purple thing.

Apparently, Sho’s request needed a bit more justification for Matsumoto to just willingly go down on the floor.

“I think it would be easier for me to get an understanding of how the exercise is supposed to look, if you show me Matsumoto-san.” He explained to the trainer and his sceptically raised eyebrow.

It was only fair that Matsumoto went on the ball as well with all the hardships he’d put Sho through. Honestly, Sho did not think he should be the only one on the receiving end of the trainer’s seemingly brilliant ideas. Finally, Matsumoto nodded,

“Ok, I’ll show you.”

Later, Sho would admit that he had not expected Matsumoto to have tamed the exercise ball that well. With the way the man made it look graceful as he sat down on it, eyes on Sho’s, the other man wanted to swallow the bitterness of not being able to look half as good as Matsumoto.

“Let me explain again, Sakurai-san,” Matsumoto started, bouncing slightly on the ball, and Sho forced his mind to focus on the trainer’s words and not just his mouth, “The advantage of exercise balls is the way they help you train your core muscles,” he touched his own abdomen with both hands, “Your balance,” he moved his hips gently from side to side for effect, “And your flexibility,” When he leaned back all the way on the ball this time, head almost touching the floor on the other end, Sho really could not help but stare at the lines of Matsumoto’s upper body. With the shirt stretching and sneaking its way upwards, Sho could count every single one of Matsumoto’s ribs and easily make out the outline of his nipples. Sho licked his lips unconsciously.

“Understand?”

Sho hummed a response at Matsumoto’s muffled question from the other side of the ball. He wasn’t sure whether the trainer had said anything else after bending backwards, but that did not matter - Matsumoto wouldn’t be able to tell where Sho was looking anyway.
Just as his eyes moved away from Matsumoto’s chest and made their way downwards towards his tights, Matsumoto made a move to get up and Sho tore his eyes away. Pity. He’d get another chance though.

Instead of getting up, Matsumoto twisted his body around on the ball until he was lying sideways on it, facing Sho,
“This is how I want you to do this exercise,” he stated, eyes fixed on Sho. With his legs straightened, feet touching the floor on one end and his head slightly tilted, Sho just could not help but find the pose incredibly sexy,

“I see.” Was what he managed to respond, and he caught the sight of Matsumoto smirking, just before he rose from the ball.
When he suddenly went up real close to Sho, so close that Sho could count the pretty moles around his mouth, his smirk widened,
“Good. Your turn then.”

His breath smelled of mint and his skin of cologne and sweat. Sho swallowed, “Okay, I will try,”

Getting down on the ball again was not without difficulty, and Sho grunted as it shifted under his weight. He simply refused to slide off and land square on his ass so Matsumoto could laugh at him afterwards, not that Matsumoto wasn’t already laughing at him,
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” he said between chuckles, “Try laying down on the side as I did… Yeah, like that. Good. Now straighten your legs.”

As concentrated as Sho was, he couldn’t hold back the grunt he made from the effort, and he was sure his face was red. He closed his eyes as he straightened out his legs; the stretching in his side was strong and trying to keep his balance while at it, he simply couldn’t let the view of Matsumoto from here - the angle was so that he could only look straight at the trainer’s crotch - distract him.
“How-” he yelped when he wobbled unstably on the ball, and now he kept his eyes shut to hide his embarrassment, “How long do I have to stay like this?”

“Hmm… Only as long as I want you to.”

The dark edge to Matsumoto’s voice made Sho’s eyes spring open, “And what is that supposed to mean? Oi!” Sho flapped his arms briefly and did his best to slide down from the ball not too clumsily. After planting his ass on the floor, he crossed his arms and looked up at Matsumoto who was hovering over him,

“Don’t make fun of me!” Sho demanded.

That caused Matsumoto to laugh in a burst, and despite Sho’s position, he found that he loved the way Matsumoto’s laugh reached his eyes and turned them into a pair of half-moons. Matsumoto leaned forward, hands on his thighs, mid-laugh, before he smiled apologetically,

“I’m sorry, we’ll stop here.”

You bet we will, Sho wanted to say, but instead he just sighed deeply,

“Finally.”

“Aww, it wasn’t that bad now, was it?” Matsumoto asked, eyes following Sho as he got up from the floor. The ball rolled away behind him.

He grumbled, “I’m not a fan of balance balls,”

Matsumoto laughed again, and Sho knew he would definitely think of that sound when his days at the office turned too dull,

“I can see that. I hope you’ll get along better next time,”

“And what do you mean by that?” Sho had hoped he wouldn’t have to hop onto that thing for the next few years to come.
Matsumoto shrugged nonchalantly, “Well, now that I’ve seen the extent of your stiffness, I want us to do something about it.”

“I don’t,” Sho pouted,

His opposition made Matsumoto study him, eyes searching his face. Then he held up his hands, “Ok, ok, I’ll work on some other exercises we can do. After all there are lots of possibilities.”

Sho nodded firmly,
“But-” what? “I’m sure you’ll miss the balance ball.”

Maybe he would. He definitely would miss seeing Matsumoto on it. Maybe they could come up with an exercise where Sho sat on the abdominal bench with a few dumb bells while Matsumoto stretched that agile body of his around the ball? And Sho could watch. See, that would be nice.

Sho gave Matsumoto a weak smile before he had to cover a yawn with his hand, “Sorry,”

“I wish you’d let me write you a food plan, Sakurai-san,” Matsumoto suddenly said then, “It would improve your training so much if you changed your eating habits. I know you’re busy, but take-out is not good for you if you eat it too often.”
Sho furrowed his brows. Why was that so important? It was none of Matsumoto’s business what he ate,

“I appreciate your consideration, Matsumoto-san, but that won’t be necessary.”

“I can find recipes for you that won’t take too long to prepare.”

Of course, it was not right for Sho to be annoyed at Matsumoto since the man was just trying to help, even going as far as to suggest finding recipes for Sho. And he could not blame the trainer for not knowing the extent of his lacking cooking skills. Even if he had wanted to, Sho simply did not dare challenge any kinds of cooking experiments, when eggs and toast were usually fine for him. And a mushroom once in a while. Besides, it was not like there was time for him to cook by himself.
“It is very considerate of you, Matsumoto-san, but you don’t have to,”

Sho watched as the man’s face fell, and he found himself wondering why it apparently meant so much to this guy what Sho ate. He felt bad for brushing him off so quickly, and came up with an idea. Why he felt so bad for seeing Matsumoto disappointed was yet beyond him,

“Maybe I can try and find some more vegetables in the office canteen, but I can’t promise you anything,” A bright grin on Matsumoto’s handsome face justified Sho’s answer, and now he really wanted to search for that single carrot on the menu, just so he could tell Matsumoto afterwards, “I just have a really tight schedule, and I’m usually home very late, so there is not much time for cooking.”
Then Matsumoto asked, “Won’t you tell me what it is exactly that you do, Sakurai-san?”

Despite the gym being open to anyone, there weren’t many people around at this hour, which meant that Sho and his trainer usually had no problem using the tools and machines they needed. And they did not stand in the way, even in the middle of the gym where Matsumoto had apparently decided he wanted to stand and just chat with Sho. Though the topic was kind of related to Sho’s training, it was still the first time they had just talked. So Sho decided to indulge Matsumoto,

“I work at the Kaze Drill company, and I am in charge of the department of internal sales which means, I, as head of the department, have to keep track of our sales revenue and cost expenses,” Sho explained, once pushing his eyebrows together when trying to formulate his description for Matsumoto to understand, “And that automatically leads to a lot of meetings,” he smiled apologetically at the man and shrugged, “If I don’t keep track, no one will.”

With such a job description, he would’ve suspected Matsumoto to look bored - it wasn’t exactly a dream job for anyone, sitting in an office chair all day - but the man just nodded in understanding,

“You seem to bear a large responsibility, you must be working hard,” the smile he then gave Sho made his heart jump in his chest, it was so warm, “I am glad you find the time to come here despite all your meetings. I suppose that is where all your stamina comes from.”

Huh?

It was a great surprise for Sho to hear Matsumoto say that. Sho did not exactly think he had great stamina, especially after his training session with Aiba Masaki where he gave up before the slimmer man - Sho had admitted to himself that he actually thought he’d beat the guy. Before he could ask Matsumoto to elaborate on the topic though, the man showed a card to him,
“You should have my business card. Let me know when you can meet up the next time,” he said, their fingers grazing when Sho took
the card, “Don’t push yourself too hard, I’ll find the time for you when you find a free spot in your schedule.”

To Sho, the scene he found himself in was very alien. He had not expected for Matsumoto to turn 90 degrees like this and give him the space he needed to balance work and training. To him, it was suddenly hard to breathe right. But when Matsumoto smiled at him again, the clutching around his heart seemed to loosen - as if he should not feel bad for another person to take a small step to the side for his sake, as if it was ok for Sho not to be the one to go out of his way for someone this time. Matsumoto bowed his head gently,
“Take care until next time. And try eating some vegetables,” To the last part he added a wink which Sho reacted to instantly with a grin.
“I’ll do my best. You take care as well.”

Part 2 // Part 3

fandom: arashi, p: matsumoto jun/ sakurai sho, year: 2016, r: nc-17

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