Sweat
Still Alive
IV
The thought of a planned day with Jiyong propelled Seunghyun out of bed the next morning.
As he was getting dressed, he heard Jiyong’s alarm ring through the silence of the dorm. He pulled on his basketball shorts on more rapidly, yanking his Adidas jacket on while pushing through his door to get to the bathroom. Neither of them needed a shower until after they returned from the gym, but Jiyong always took the longest time in the bathroom, and Seunghyun wanted to make sure that he snagged the space before him.
After he was inside and brushing his teeth, he realized he hadn’t needed to hurry. Jiyong took a long time picking out his clothes, too. Even if they were only going to the gym.
Sure enough, Seunghyun had already finished prepping, and had started on gathering some sort of breakfast before he heard Jiyong come out of his room and shut the bathroom door behind him.
The pair probably only had an apple each before departing. They never seemed to have good food stored in their dorm, and they’d be hungrier for lunch after their workout. Street vendors would be better than anything they could cook themselves, anyhow.
When they originally entered the building, Seunghyun immediately started for the bench presses. Jiyong gave him a stern look.“Didn’t you want to practice running?” He badgered him, nodding his head in the direction of the treadmills. He didn’t wait for Seunghyun’s response, but instead started for the cardio area himself.
Seunghyun hesitantly followed him, scowling at the machine he stopped in front of. Jiyong had already climbed onto his and was pressing buttons to rearrange his settings. “Do we have to?” He whined.
Jiyong shrugged, hopping off of the sides and onto the conveyor belt as it began moving. “Do you want to look terribly out of shape when Haha is chasing you?”
` Seunghyun huffed and stepped onto the machine tentatively, examining the buttons. Jiyong reached over and prodded a couple for him and the machine sprung to life slowly, starting at only a walking pace. It took a while before Seunghyun’s pace and stride matched up with the speed of the machine; he wasn’t nearly as accustomed with it as he should have been. His toes kept grazing the sheet of plastic at the front of the machine as he stepped forward.
Next to him, Jiyong had already begun a steady jog. Seunghyun watched him for a moment, sizing him up. He jabbed a few buttons before finding the one that increased the speed, and set it so he was running faster than the man next to him.
When Jiyong noticed, he rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter how fast you go, you’re still in the same place,” he said through his already affected breath, shaking his head.
“Yeah, but it means I can run better than you,” Seunghyun chuckled, already panting audibly.
“In that case,” Jiyong’s treadmill beeped each time he pressed the button to increase his speed. “I’ll take you up on that challenge.”
Seunghyun scoffed at him and instantly retaliated, matching his speed. They were both at a quick stride, but hadn’t quite begun sprinting yet.
Jiyong smirked haughtily. “I’m more used to treadmills than you. I may have no muscles, but I can run.”
“I can run just as fast as you, see!”
Jiyong just pointed at his machine. “I’m going up a hill. You’re completely flat.” He turned his face back away from Seunghyun and grinned, looking forward. “So… I’m better than you. Basically.”
It was difficult for Seunghyun to continue running while keeping his arms still enough to push the incline button to make his treadmill move to a slope, but he pressed it hard enough eventually. He managed a ‘humph’ at Jiyong before going silent, now working too hard to speak. He was already beginning to sweat, too conscious of the temperature of the room.
Jiyong snorted and shook his head in disbelief, continuing at his pace comfortably, barely breathing hard. It was true that he’d spend his time running on the treadmill or an elliptical instead of lifting weights or doing anything with his abs, in order to keep his tiny figure.
Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Seunghyun dropped the incline one setting at a time and continued the quick pace on a flat terrain, his chest still heaving uncomfortably. He avoided looking at Jiyong, whom he knew must have been examining him through his peripheral vision. His water bottle was in a cup holder on the front of the machine, so he stepped onto the side of the machine away from the moving belt to pause and gulp at it.
“Tired?” Jiyong called, pestering him. “You really are terrible at running,” he shook his head and looked around for other options, mercifully. “What if there are stairs and you have to run up them?” He pointed to a stair climbing machine down a few aisles.
Seunghyun set his water down, exasperated. He tilted his head toward the machine and raised his eyebrows. “You think there’ll be stairs?”
“There are always stairs.” Jiyong said simply. “I think.”
Seunghyun considered it for a moment before shrugging and hopping back onto the moving treadmill, stumbling a bit before getting back up to his previous speed.
After ten more minutes of running, Seunghyun’s lungs felt like they were burning, and he hated the sensation. He wiped the film of sweat off of his forehead and gripped the sides of the machine, scanning over the buttons quickly to find the one that would shut the wretched thing off. He hated running.
Jiyong was also panting, but delicately, not sounding like he’d been running for hours, as his friend was. “You done?” He asked as Seunghyun climbed off the machine and took a swig of his water, watching Jiyong in disbelief. “Already?” Jiyong jeered in mock pity. “The Running Man team will catch you easily.”
“Shut up,” Seunghyun grinned, waving a hand at him. He was still huffing and puffing. “I’ll be hiding. I’ll be better at that than you. You can’t keep your mouth shut.”
Jiyong gaped at him, one corner of his mouth turning up in his signature smirk. “Fine. I wish you good luck dealing with them, then.” He hopped so each of his legs was on the strips of plastic on either side of his conveyor belt so he could get some water. “Are you going to do weights or something now?”
“Yeah,” Seunghyun grunted, leaning forward to stretch, hardly touching his toes. “You’ll be here?”
“I’ll be here,” Jiyong said, closing his eyes and sighing contentedly to prove that the running hadn’t tired him out at all.
* * *
The locker room felt abnormally humid coming from the interior of the gym. Jiyong lead through the door, weaving through the lockers and the rows of showers. He knew Seunghyun would never take a shower here. If he’d come with Seungri, they would have most definitely made a stop at the showers before going home; but because of Seunghyun, he tried to ignore the sweat glistening on his forehead and gluing his shirt to his chest. The dorm wasn’t that far away, anyhow.
Jiyong cleared his throat as he unlocked his locker. He put a foot up on the bench to yank his oversized duffel bag out of the cramped metal space, careful not to fall over once it had given way. ` Seunghyun was having trouble with his lock combination, as usual.
“Need help?” Jiyong asked, leaning forward to cup the lock in his hands, already spinning the dial before Seunghyun answered the question.
“The combination is 8, 18 –“ Seunghyun started, but Jiyong had already finished entering the sequence and swung open the door before he could finish.
Seunghyun made a sound of disbelief and removed his bag easily, not having to go to ridiculous measures as Jiyong had.
Normally, Seunghyun would just grab his things as quickly as possible to get home, skipping even the changing rooms. But when Jiyong made to skirt around the curtained cubicles, Seunghyun grabbed his elbow.
“I feel disgusting. Let’s just change here, alright?” He’d muttered, wiping his head with his entire arm and pinching and lifting the fabric of his shirt repeatedly in an attempt to aerate it.
Jiyong raised his eyebrows at him and shrugged. He pushed the curtain of one room open and pointed to the next stall over. Seunghyun nodded and entered it, closing off the curtain very carefully and securely behind him.
“Ji,” Seunghyun said softly not a minute later. “Come here.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Just come here,” Seunghyun’s voice rose impatiently, but in a way that wasn’t at all angry.
Luckily, Jiyong had only gotten around to removing his shirt, and he took his fresh one out with him and pulled it over his head as he stood outside Seunghyun’s stall. “What do you need?” He asked, a bit worried, tapping on the curtain. The metal hooks jingled and the plastic shifted an inch away from the wall.
Jiyong reached forward to re-close it, but Seunghyun’s head popped out above his own. “No, I mean come in here,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Jiyong pulled the curtain open only enough so he could squeeze in, getting increasingly anxious. He kept his eyes on the tiles and undeniably grimy floor for Seunghyun’s sake.
“Ji.” Seunghyun poked him in the ribs. Jiyong looked up reflexively. He was about to lower his eyes again, but the look on Seunghyun’s face told him that the other man was perfectly comfortable. And he hadn’t put his clean shirt back on after taking his workout one off. In fact, it must have still been in his bag, as it was nowhere in sight.
Seunghyun cocked and eyebrow and put his hands on his bare hips, in front of the mirror, making eye contact with Jiyong in the reflection. “What do you think? Running has done your hyung some good, right?” He held his palms up at his shoulders.
Jiyong chuckled, his tongue flicking over his lips nervously. “Sure has,” he said, crossing his arms carefully.
Seunghyun took his eyes away to look at the real Jiyong instead of his reflection. “Hey.” He held out his arms and puffed out his chest. “Touch me.”
Jiyong kept the vice-like grip around his own waist, but scratched his head with one of his hands. “Er… What?”
“Feel my body,” Seunghyun said indignantly as he stepped closer, pumping his arms impatiently.
Jiyong gave him a funny look sideways. But after a moment, he reached through the foot or two of air that still separated them, and held his hand on Seunghyun’s bicep.
Seunghyun watched his expression, raising his eyebrows, urging him to go on.
Whatever tension there was between them vanished, and the silence and monotony in Seunghyun’s brain was replaced by a surge of a different type of emotion that he classified as just plain happiness. Or something. He wasn’t sure what to think of it.
Trusting that Seunghyun was perfectly comfortable, Jiyong pressed his hand against his chest, his abs. “Wow. You look… great,” he said softly.
Seunghyun pulled away and stepped toward the mirror again, feeling the defined lines of his own abdominal muscles. “You think so? I feel really good. Really great.” Seunghyun smiled really childishly at himself and then turned to Jiyong. Internally, he was just absolutely elated with his reflection. Jiyong could tell it from his expression externally as well.
Pulling his arms back to himself, Jiyong smiled broadly. “I’m glad. You really do look – Yah! Do you want me to leave?” He asked, beginning to shield his eyes as Seunghyun began to continue stripping. “I have to change too, you know!”
“Oh, right. Sure, yeah. That’s all I needed.” Seunghyun pulled his shorts back up as Jiyong exited and put the curtain back in place.
Once back in his own tiled cubicle, Jiyong called, “you had me worried there. I thought you’d found a growth, or something.” He admitted.
Seunghyun waved his hand dismissively even though Jiyong couldn’t see him through the wall. “Nope.” He replied simply.
Jiyong scoffed, a bit put off that Seunghyun hadn’t acknowledged his concern. He finished getting dressed in silence.
Seunghyun was leaning on the wall opposite Jiyong’s stall when he came out, and straightened up once he was ready to go.
The pair exchanged their types of smiles that melted their fans’ hearts, walking to the van, joking with each other about the state of each of their hairstyles.
Whatever that untitled, undistinguished, overlooked feeling was… It kept Seunghyun sleeping soundly that night. He fell asleep quickly. And he didn’t wake up once, no matter how much he had the urge to go straighten out Jiyong’s shoe closet.
A/N:
#TOP #TOP #TOP
I have known that I wanted to write this from the beginning and now I have and OMGZ. I just love it. In the Strongheart interview, GTOP was sailing ITSELF, right?? Anyway, thank you again so much for reading and I seriously hope you're continuing to seriously enjoy it! Don't be afraid to talk to me /)^3^(\
I was so glad to make these last two chapters happy chapters. Reading through this I realize it's pretty short and I've only been writing it for a month, but I feel like the sad parts have lasted forever ._. JIYONG JUST MAKES EVERYONE HAPPY OK
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