Jonghyun was scared, no terrified. This was something completely new to him. He wasn’t used to attention. After years of being invisible, no teacher or student talking at him, someone finally said a word to him. He didn’t know what to do; he just looked at the handsome stranger with a surprised expression on his face.

The man standing in front of him was a regular at the gym. He had been here long before Jonghyun, or se Jonghyun guessed. He had moved to this town a few months back and almost immediately made himself a member in the gym. Jonghyun liked to work out after work and most of the time this man was also in the gym. The stranger had beautiful brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail and he always worked out with a smaller, more feminine man who complained more than actually doing something.
"Hello?" the man asked again, the smile never leaving his lips.
"Oh - euhm," Jonghyun said in a soft voice, trying to find the right words. He decided to repeat the other's words.
"Hello," he replied.
The man chuckled, eyes never leaving Jonghyun's face. "I am Minho. The one I always work out with, Taemin, is sick and I don't like sporting alone. Do you want to train with me today? You're here almost every day and always alone, so I thought I would say hello to you."
Jonghyun needed some time to process all of the man's words. He was called Minho and the younger one was Taemin. "I'm Jonghyun," he introduced himself.
He didn't know if he should decline or accept the man's offer. He had never been asked to do something together. It was something new and new things scared him. Especially if it involved speaking and interacting with others. Jonghyun decided to nod and smile the best he could. "I would like to sport together with you," he said and stood up from the ground.
Minho smiled and nodded. "Good! What do you want to do first? Do you want to run for a few minutes as a warming-up?"

It turned out that Jonghyun liked talking to Minho. He had never been to the gym with someone else. Not only because no one talked to him, but also because he thought that it would distract him. That wasn't the case. Minho pushed him and let him go beyond his limits. He was exhausted and drained of all his energy after their workout, just like Minho was, but he felt good. He had done more than he thought he could and it made him feel happy. He had accomplished something. He also found out that Minho was younger than him and he had let the man call him hyung. No one had ever called him that, no one was ever close enough to him. It made him feel happy. He wasn't alone and Minho seemed to really like him for who he was.

“How did that feel?" Minho asked.
Jonghyun wondered if the man always smiled, because one again he was smiling. Didn't it hurt his cheeks? He didn't know if it was a normal thing to do when talking to someone, so he tried his best and smiled when the younger man said something to him. He also tried to look in his eyes, because he had read it was polite. Why was talking so difficult? How did people do it? "I feel tired, but I'm glad I accomplished so much."
"That's good to hear, hyung," Minho commented and placed a hand on Jonghyun's shoulder.
Jonghyun wasn't used to people calling him hyung, but it made him feel special, as if he actually was someone Minho wanted to talk to. He was surprised that he wasn't blushing, but that was probably because of the exhaustion. He took his water bottle and gulped it all down. "Want to do this again? Taemin is home all week and I don't think he's going to come out of his bed when he doesn't need to."
The older of the two laughed at that. Having a friend was something he had never expected to have, but it was something he had longed for all his life. This had been missing all his life.

Jonghyun left the gym later that night with Minho's number saved on his phone and a message that they had to do this again. Tomorrow, as they were both in the gym almost every day. Jonghyun grinned and his heart beat fast. He was so happy that he wanted to run a thousand times around the building and scream, but he knew that he couldn't do that. Minho wanted to be his friend and that was all that mattered.

/goes hiding in a corner