Content Warning: This work is intended for mature (NC17) audiences. If you are younger, please kindly leave this site.
~~~
"Fifteen-minute warm-up as usual, Pete."
"Can I have twenty minutes instead?"
"Of course, it's up to you, my dear client. Hahaha! Right now, you, Pitchaya, are my PT client, so I’ll accommodate your wishes."
In the evening, after regular work hours, a famous fitness center is bustling with clients sweating it out before heading home. Similarly, Pitchaya, a young executive, has been coming here regularly for over a week now. The person Pete chose to buy training hours from is none other than his close friend from university.
That person is... the ever-talkative Kirakorn.
"I’ll start counting the hours after the warm-up is done."
"You can start counting now, Khaen."
"Honestly? No way, man. I’m not cheating you. Let’s wait until the twenty minutes are up before we start counting the training time. By the way, why the extra running time?"
Honestly, Khaen could have let his friend warm up first and then come back after twenty minutes, but this Pheuak Monkey just stands in front of the machine, looking like he’s planning to stay and chat, making the person on the treadmill smile.
"Well, I thought I had started exercising already. I figured I could go running with Ae in the morning. But guess what? I couldn’t even last ten minutes before collapsing." Pete says, slightly embarrassed, as his body is quite... weak.
Wait, no. It’s just that he’s never pushed himself too hard before.
"Ugh, don’t compare yourself to Ae, man. Back in third and fourth year, he even competed in marathons. He’s insanely tough and resilient, seriously." Khaen shakes his head in disagreement, while recalling how his friend suddenly called to ask about gym information and then showed up as a client the very next day.
"I want to maintain my figure."
"Hey, your figure is fine as it is. You’re not too fat, not too thin. Maybe you don’t have much muscle, but your body has always been like this."
And Pete’s answer is clear. "At first, I was hesitant, Khaen. But now I’m almost twenty-four. If I don’t start exercising early, I’m afraid by the time I’m thirty, I’ll let myself go. Then I’m a little scared... Look at Ae. People say men start getting bellies once they start working, but hey, he hasn’t changed at all. If anything, he’s even fitter than before."
So, what this Khaen-ta-lup guy is probably thinking is... he’s afraid of getting fat and his partner losing interest.
"Besides, you’ve only been working out for a week. Your body hasn’t had time to adjust yet," Khaen says, sharing his thoughts.
"By the way, have you thought about building some muscle? Like, getting those cool, defined muscles?" The Pheuak Monkey adds jokingly, causing the person on the treadmill to shake his head immediately.
"Ae would probably die of shock."
"Hahaha! Not like huge bodybuilder muscles, man. I mean just building some strength, getting more toned. I guarantee it won’t look bad, and Ae won’t be shocked. In fact, it’ll be even better..."
Khaen goes quiet for a moment before leaning in to whisper softly.
"It’ll make you more... durable in bed."
"Hmm."
“Oh, so you’re interested, huh?” As soon as Khaen finishes speaking, Pete immediately turns to look, making the other person burst out laughing.
The loud teasing causes Pete to blush even more, drawing some attention. But since he’s been back in Thailand for a while and it’s clear who he’s dating, all their friends already know. Plus, the other person also has a partner, so Pete keeps his voice low.
"Well, Ae is really... durable, Khaen."
“Huh?!” At that, the Pheuak Monkey’s ears perk up, and he scoots closer, eager to hear more. But the speaker shakes his head, signaling that he won’t elaborate further on bedroom matters.
This makes the chatterbox reluctantly change the subject.
“Well, fine, you don’t have to tell me... By the way, is Ae still working out these days? He’s working over there, right? I thought he’d be swamped with work. Before you came back to Thailand, man, Ae barely had time to meet up with friends. He was all about work. I wonder how much overtime pay he’s racked up. He’s probably loaded by now. Plus, his factory has employee housing. Damn, his whole salary probably just goes to transportation costs. Oh, back to the original topic—is Ae still playing soccer?” The chatterbox rambles on, making the listener smile, even though Pete’s starting to get a bit out of breath from the workout.
“Yes... he still plays. In the evenings, he plays with the workers. I heard... huff... he even teaches the workers’ kids how to play soccer,” Pete says, sharing what he knows, making the listener nod slightly.
“Man, that guy is crazy about sports. Even on his days off, he still invites you to go running, huh?”
“No... huff... Ae doesn’t invite me. I just want to go with him... but I always end up being a burden...” Pete complains, panting as sweat starts to bead on his temples from the prolonged workout. Even though he’s now aiming to come to the gym two to three times a week.
“Should we slow down a bit?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” Pete replies, making Khaen nod. Even though Khaen doesn’t think Pete needs to buy personal training sessions since he could work out on his own, he has to admit he’s happy to catch up with his old friend several times a week like this. Honestly, when Pete first came back to Thailand, Khaen was so excited he could barely contain himself.
He remembers clearly their first meet-up. He practically lunged at Pete, hugging him so tightly that Ae had to pull him off.
“Alright, I’ll stop chatting then. Go warm up first. I’ll be back in ten minutes, and then we’ll start for real,” Khaen says, letting his friend warm up properly before they dive into the serious workout. With his position as a personal trainer, he guarantees he’ll help Pete maintain his figure!
I promise you, Ae, your partner didn’t pick the wrong trainer. I’ll make sure Pete becomes more... durable in bed to keep you happy. You won’t be able to resist him, hahaha!
These are the thoughts of someone who’s confident and having a lot of fun.
~~~
“This is so delicious, man.”
“Take your time, Khaen.”
“But I’m starving! I’ve been sweating since morning.” Forget the thoughts from a few lines ago. The person who vowed to help his best friend get in shape to please his partner is now ordering everything in sight to fill his hungry stomach.
Calories? Who cares.
Fat? It’ll burn off eventually.
Why worry when your mouth says it’s delicious?
So, the person with a gym-branded bag placed beside him eats without a care in the world, to the point where even Pete finds it amusing.
“Does Tinn ever tease you about eating like a hurricane?”
“He’s used to it... You should eat too. If you’re not building muscle, you don’t need to focus so much on protein. Just eat, and we’ll burn it off at the gym later.” These are the words of a personal trainer, mind you.
Pete just smiles at the comment and continues eating his usual way, observing his friend who hasn’t changed a bit since their school days. The only thing that’s different is... When coworkers pass by, “Ai’Pete” suddenly becomes “Pete,” and “mue” (I/me) turns into “phom” (a more polite “I”). Honestly, Pete doesn’t mind if Khaen keeps speaking casually, but he probably doesn’t want to offend his coworkers by addressing a client so informally.
“By the way, I heard Tinn also comes to this gym?”
“Yep, he comes in the morning. To assert his dominance, you know.”
“Assert his dominance?” Pete repeats, confused, making Khaen laugh.
He’s not too fazed by the over-the-top possessiveness of his romantic partner. “Yeah, assert his dominance... He comes to remind my coworkers that I’m taken.”
“Huh?!” Pete startles, looking at Khaen, who’s munching on a large chicken drumstick but nods in confirmation.
“Yeah, it’s true. Doesn’t Ae do that?”
“No... he’s never done that at work,” Pete quickly shakes his head, thinking about his partner.
Even though Ae visits him at the hotel sometimes, he never makes it obvious to the staff that they’re in a relationship. If anyone knows, it’s because they’ve seen Ae’s face often or noticed him walking straight through the front desk to Pete’s office. But Ae has never openly declared their relationship, and Pete understands it’s probably because Ae doesn’t want people to judge him unfairly.
Even though Pete doesn’t care if people know he’s gay, he’s not keen on announcing it to the world. As long as he, Ae, and their families accept it, that’s enough.
It seems Tinn is different though.
“Seriously, Tinn straight-up told my coworkers that I’m his partner. He even kissed me in the middle of the gym once. He’s unbelievably possessive and jealous. Just talking about it makes me want to share more. He won’t let me accept gifts from anyone. Last month, when I went to Australia with him, he got mad because I had dinner with a client without telling him. He sulked all the way to the airport, and I had to run after him to apologize.”
“That much?” Pete asks, amazed, trying to picture his usually calm and composed friend.
Wait, even now, Tinn still seems like the quiet, stoic type who wouldn’t easily show his emotions. But from what Khaen’s saying... he’s not as reserved as he appears.
“Yeah, I almost cried at the airport. But I’m not mad at him. Him being possessive just means he loves me,” Khaen says without hesitation, sharing everything openly because Pete has seen the ups and downs of their relationship from the very beginning.
“Tinn really loves you, Khaen. He has since our school days.”
“Of course,” Khaen replies, unable to hide his pride. He’s absolutely confident about how much that mischievous guy loves him.
“Sometimes I wish I could be as confident as you, Khaen.”
“You’re not confident that Ae loves you? Hey, why would you think that? He loves you so much. He was a wreck when you weren’t around. He’s changed so much since you came back—it’s like he’s a completely different person now. And not to mention...”
“No, no, Khaen. It’s not that I’m not confident about his love,” Pete quickly shakes his head.
When it comes to being sure about Ae’s love, he’s just as confident as anyone. Pete continues… “I’m just not confident about telling people outside, that’s all.”
“What do you mean?” Khaen asks, curious but not pushing too hard. He lets Pete, who seems unsure about who to talk to about this, open up on his own. After all, sharing with a friend who knows everything is better than keeping it bottled up.
“It’s like this, Khaen. I know Ae is close with his coworkers, especially the ones who are engineers like him. When Ae changed jobs recently—he’s still working in Rayong, just at a different company—this one woman said she wanted to transfer to work with him too. Then last night, I saw her post on Ae’s Facebook saying... ‘It’s almost my birthday. Come treat me to dinner, you handsome guy.’ I just don’t know how to tell her that Ae already has a partner.”
“Whoa, just reply to her and say Ae’s not available. Ae has to be with you. He doesn’t have time for anyone else,” Khaen says immediately, his tone full of conviction, making Pete sigh.
“I want to, Khaen, but I’m afraid it’ll make Ae look bad,” Pete says, feeling a little frustrated. He’s seen this kind of situation before, back when they were in England.
"Hey, let me see their face. Who is this? You can’t let this slide!" The one hyping things up keeps at it, pushing the listener to check Ae’s Facebook and show the post. But then...
Pinky Pinku: Ugh, sis, have you asked Ae’s partner, Pete, if it’s okay for Ae to treat you to dinner?
Today, someone else replies on Pete’s behalf, making him frown for a brief moment.
He’s wondering who Pinky Pinku is, and then his eyes widen... it’s Nong Chomphu!
Pete clicks on the profile picture to confirm, and sure enough, it’s her—the cute junior who’s now replying on his behalf. Pete isn’t sure how to react as he hands the phone to Khaen to see.
“Oh, Nong Chomphu replied for you, huh? Hey, do you know that in our fourth year, Chomphu was Ae’s ‘dog repellent’? Whenever someone tried to hit on him, he’d use Chomphu as a shield. She helped him out a lot, but don’t worry about it—they’re like siblings, seriously,” Khaen quickly explains, vaguely remembering that there had been some issues about Chomphu before.
Pete just smiles though. He knows about Ae’s past with Chomphu, but that was only because Ae did what Pete told him to do. It was a very short-lived relationship. Ae even said they never went out on a proper date—they only had one meal together before breaking up. Chomphu said she was satisfied with just that and knew that Ae... never stopped loving Pete.
As he listens, Pete realizes that he has been foolish all along for ever feeling possessive over this girl.
"Oh, you don’t know, do you? Chomphu is dating a masc-lesbian now."
"What?!?!"
"Oh wow, you really didn’t know? So Ai'Ae didn’t tell you, huh? Haha, he’s still the same—never talks about other people’s personal matters. Yeah, Chomphu is dating a masc-lesbian, a senior in her faculty. They’re super sweet together. I guess being around Ai'Ae for so long made her realize she doesn’t want a guy."
And just like that, whatever weight he had been carrying in his heart because of this girl vanishes instantly, leaving him only to silently apologize to her in his mind.
“Hey, Ae replied!” Khaen suddenly exclaims, looking down at the screen again, and then... he bursts out laughing.
“Oh man, classic Ae. How could you ever doubt him? Ae’s got guts!” Khaen laughs heartily as he hands the phone back to Pete, who sees the short, simple message Ae left under Chomphu’s comment:
...Like Chomphu said, I’ll have to ask my partner first if I can go…
“Ah, you’re really playing like this, huh?” Pitchaya mutters softly, raising a hand to cover his face.
He never expects his romantic partner to act this way. He is not sure if he is imagining it, but Ae is speaking like... He is afraid of his Mia.
“You don’t need to think too much. Ai'Ae is already doing this much. If anything else happens, just tell them this person is yours,” Khaen says, patting his shoulder with an oil-stained hand before returning to his meal, leaving the listener unsure whether to smile or laugh. Meanwhile…
“Hold on, Ai'Tinn is calling... Hey, do you want to know how possessive Ai'Tinn is?”
Khaen pulls out his phone, glances at the screen, then turns to raise an eyebrow mischievously. Without waiting for Pete’s response, he immediately answers the call.
“You, you, you! Video call,” Khaen says before hanging up. Moments later, the LINE call rings again.
“Hello, what’s up?” Khaen greets first, waving a chicken drumstick while looking at the image in the corner of the screen—a tall man in a perfectly tailored suit, sitting in a leather chair, clearly still at work.
“Where are you?” Tinn asks, making the person on this side grin widely.
“Having a meal with a client.”
“What did you just say?!” The man on the screen furrows his brows so tightly they nearly knot together, raising his voice as he continues sternly. “Do you not understand the meaning of the word ‘lesson’ at all?!”
“Whoa, calm down, Tinn. Take it easy, stay cool. I’ll show you the client,” Kirakorn says when he sees his romantic partner looking fierce. He quickly turns the screen around to show who the so-called client really is.
Pete, on the other hand, offers a dry smile and waves a hand in greeting. "Hey, Tinn."
"Pete?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm having a meal with Khaen," Pete quickly says, though he flinches slightly at the next words.
"Alright... So how did you two even meet up?"
Before Pete can answer, Khaen immediately turns the screen toward himself, grinning widely, completely unfazed by his romantic partner’s displeased expression.
"Pete came to work out at the fitness center. He’s my client now, like I told you. So today, we’re having a meal together—talking madly about you and Ai'Ae. It’s so much fun." Khaen chatters away, spilling everything, making the person on the other end sigh before breaking into a faint smile.
"So you're ganging up to gossip about your romantic partners?"
"You could say that. But come on, don’t get jealous, don’t get sulky. Shh, bebe~" Khaen teases, making the listener shake his head.
"Can you get home by yourself, or should I come pick you up?"
"No need, no need. I can get home on my own. I’ll call you when I get back. Hang in there—you seem to have a lot of work left. Alright, I’m going back to my meal now." With that, Khaen hangs up on his romantic partner before Tinn can insist on picking him up. If Tinn wasn’t busy, he wouldn’t still be sitting all dapper in his office.
"See? He’s so possessive," Khaen brags to his friend, who laughs along.
"Getting to see Tinn like this is truly a rare sight."
"It must be love~" Pete doesn’t even finish his sentence before his phone starts ringing, making him quickly grab it.
"Yes, Ae?"
"Haha! Right on cue. Ai'Ae must be really possessive of you," Khaen bursts into laughter, making Pete smile as well, listening to the deep voice that seems to harden at the sound of the song.
"Where are you?"
That sounds familiar, Ae. Pete chuckles at the thought of how two men who once saw each other as adversaries could be so unexpectedly alike.
"I'm having a meal with a friend."
"Which friend?"
Pete grins even wider but decides not to tease him any further.
"I'm with Khaen. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Ai'Khaen? No, that’s fine. You went to the fitness center today, right? ...Anyway, I called to tell you that I don’t have any feelings for the person who posted on Facebook. And I didn’t have a meal with them either—I just sent a birthday message. I wanted to let you know first."
—Pause—
Just a few simple sentences from Ae, yet Pete's heart swells in an unbelievable way.
Why should he worry when this man is always so clear?
Ae doesn’t have to tell him anything, yet he does—just to put his mind at ease.
"Alright. Thanks for calling to tell me, Ae. I’ll call you when I get home."
"Yeah, I have something to talk to you about too. My nephew is fussing about wanting to go on a trip with you, but we’ll talk about it later... Don’t listen to Ai'Khaen too much, or you’ll go deaf."
Ae hangs up, while Pete laughs, slipping his phone back into his pocket—only to look up and meet his friend’s teasing gaze.
"If Ai'Pond were here, this would be wild. He’d be so into meddling in our business he’d forget the world," Khaen says before extending an invitation.
"Anyway, next time, let’s eat together just the two of us again. I like it."
"Like?" Pete raises an eyebrow slightly, making Khaen grin.
"Yeah, I like gossiping about Ai'Tinn. And it’s even more fun when I have someone to gossip with!" A short, simple answer, but it makes Pete laugh wholeheartedly. Because from now on, it looks like they’ll have—
A night for gossiping.
Since talking about their romantic partners with others can be difficult sometimes, it’s best to do it with someone who understands. Just as Khaen seems to have already named their gatherings—
The Husband-Gossip Society.
Which is fitting, really—because, well... They both do have husbands.
NEXT Special Chapter 7 - Tie Yourself Up with a Bow, and Throw Yourself on the Bed
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