Chapter Text
Normally, people would go to work out after work, so the gym closed at 11:30 PM on Fridays. However, as 11:00 PM approached, the gym was usually empty, leaving only Aldo Bellini at reception. He would close the gym early when necessary. The gym wasn't large, but it was high-quality and profitable for him. Aldo usually worked in administration during the day, but after 7:00 PM he would often be in the weight room observing the activity and sometimes helping some students along with the instructor, Agnes. After 9:00 PM, he would go to reception because Raymond, the receptionist, finished his shift at that time. As always, Aldo would start turning off the lights in the training areas since no one was working out anymore, but when he passed in front of the men's locker room, he heard a sound; someone was inside. He entered the locker room ready to tell whoever was inside that he was closing the gym, but was surprised to find a man sitting on a wooden bench, hunched over, his hands covering his face, crying desperately.
“Hm… Is everything alright?” Aldo asked, hesitant to approach. The man continued crying, still hiding his face.
“Y-Yes… I just…” was all he said.
As exhausted as he was that night, Aldo didn't have a heart of ice, especially when he saw someone crying the way that man was crying.
“Look… I know I have nothing to do with your life, I don't know what's making you cry, but if I can help you in any way…”
“Thank you for… caring about me… I'm just an idiot who deserves to cry…”
He finally lifted his face and looked at Aldo, who was surprised to realize who the man was. It was Goffredo di Marco Tedesco, the gym's newcomer. They had never spoken before; perhaps Goffredo didn't even know who he was, but from day one Aldo had his eye on him. Goffredo was withdrawn; he would just arrive, work out lifting the heaviest weights that weren't suitable for him, and then leave. To any other gym employee, Goffredo would have gone unnoticed, but Aldo was fascinated by this man. His wavy hair, his discreetly framed glasses, his stubble, the sweat that made his skin glisten and caused his thin gym clothes to cling to his body which, in particular, Aldo thought was his greatest charm. Goffredo was overweight, with thick arms and legs, broad shoulders, a prominent belly, and of course, an attractive big butt. Occasionally, Aldo would pay attention to it while Goffredo was working out. Agnes had already noticed Aldo's infatuation with this man and even encouraged him to approach him, but Aldo hesitated because he discovered that Goffredo already had a boyfriend. Of course a man like him would have a boyfriend. Seeing him cry moved him; what could make him cry?
“But what happened that was so bad to make you cry?”
“I… I’m so foolish…” He murmured, his eyes still brimming with tears: “My boyfriend broke up with me… But I… I should have fought… I’m already fighting for us, but it’s no use to him… I didn’t try hard enough…” Goffredo rubbed his face.
“If you’ll allow me, what happened?”
“I… I’m ashamed to say… I think you’ll agree with him… I think everyone will agree with him…”
“Judging by how you’re crying, I’m unlikely to agree with your ex-boyfriend.”
“It’s just… I’m new to this academy, you know? And… I came here because… Because I wanted him to love me.”
“Wait a minute, a boyfriend who doesn’t love you broke up with you and you’re here crying?”
“He loves me!” Goffredo exclaimed, then lowered his voice, very emotional and unstable: “I’m sorry… It’s just… He said he loved me and then he said… He said I wasn’t handsome enough for him… That I wasn’t good enough… I know it sounds silly to cry about this, but…”.
Hearing that, Aldo felt very angry.
“Don’t think it’s silly to cry, that ex-boyfriend of yours, whoever he is, is a scoundrel, a bastard! How could he say that? That’s not something you say to the man you love! Besides, is he blind? You’re a very handsome man!”
“You’re very kind, but you don’t need to lie just to make me feel better… I… I tried to lose weight and get more muscular, I thought that way he would stop cheating on me… Today was the last straw… Before I came here, we argued, he said I could spend hours lifting weights or running on a treadmill and it wouldn’t change anything, I would still be repulsive to him and he would still sleep with others, because I’m not even good at giving pleasure to anyone…” His eyes filled even more with tears that fell like a storm, Aldo was very moved and dared to hug him. Goffredo was very surprised by the gesture and reciprocated. He didn't even know who Aldo was, but he felt the comfort of a friend in that hug, and for the first time in a long time, Goffredo felt that someone was telling him the truth.
“Listen, you may not believe me, after all, I'm a stranger, but you're nothing like what your ex-boyfriend said,” Aldo said, still hugging him.
“T-Thank you… It's so hard… I shouldn't be crying over someone who treated me so badly… But I'm so down that… I think he's good for me, you know? I believe that… only he would be capable of liking me.”
“But if he makes you feel so bad, then he doesn't like you. He destroyed your self-esteem. It's sad to know that a man as handsome as you had to hear such hurtful words. That guy, whoever he is, certainly doesn't know how to value what he has at home.”
“I… I just wanted him to love me… I wanted someone to love me.”
Those words were sad to hear, and it was sad to see Goffredo's sadness. If Aldo could, he would break his ex-boyfriend's face.
“Goffredo, a man like him doesn't deserve your tears, especially since he's wrong. Don't cry anymore.” Aldo released him from the hug.
“You know my name?” He rubbed his tear-filled eyes, surprised. “I didn't think anyone had paid attention to me…”
“I always know what interests me, besides, I own this gym.” Aldo smiled and saw Goffredo blush even more.
“Dio mio… I'll never set foot in here again.” He would be embarrassed anyway in a few hours for having poured his heart out to a stranger, but he felt awkward having confided in the gym owner.
“Oh, don’t even think about it,” Aldo smiled back. “I’d love to see you more often.”
"But... But you see me here almost every day."
"I'd like to see you more often beyond this place. I find you a very interesting man."
Goffredo blushed.
“How can you find me interesting? I’m not handsome… I was crying secretly in the bathroom because of an ex-boyfriend who cheats on me, humiliates me, and yet I thought about crawling back to him so he would come back to me…”
“You’re not going to crawl back to your ex-boyfriend, Goffredo.” Aldo wiped away one of his tears with his thumb and pointed to the showers: “Why don’t you take a shower? The cold water will help you calm down. After that, I’ll take you home; I’m not even thinking about letting you go home alone. Then you’ll promise me you’ll rest and won’t call him.”
“Who else would I call on a Saturday night if not him?”
Aldo smiled and extended his hand so that Goffredo could give him the smartphone with the "add contact" screen already open, which he did. Aldo added his phone number and returned the device:
"Now take a shower, Goffredo."
"Aldo M. Bellini… It's a nice name, but what does the letter M stand for?"
"Maria."
"Maria? It's even nicer."
It was Aldo's turn to blush.
"Weren't you closing the gym, Aldo Maria Bellini?"
"I don't see any problem in giving you a little more time to calm down."
"I feel like I'm bothering you on a Friday night."
"Of course not, Goffredo, I'll do it with pleasure." Aldo stood up: "I'll wait for you at reception, but there's no need to rush, I have nothing to do and no one waiting for me at home."
Aldo winked at him and left the bathroom. Goffredo, embarrassed, went to the stall to shower. Aldo finished turning off the last lights in the gym and waited for him in the reception area. He wasn't naive enough to say that no one was waiting for him at home. Goffredo didn't take long in the shower, but it helped him calm down. He changed his clothes and met Aldo in the reception area.
"You were quick."
"Ah, the water was so cold that it calmed me down instantly."
They laughed and then left together. Aldo closed the gym and guided Goffredo to his car. He didn't live far away; in fact, his house was on the way to Aldo's, so they didn't have much time to talk. When he dropped him off at his house, Aldo said:
"I hope you keep the promise you made."
"But I didn't promise anything."
“So promise me now, promise me you’ll be okay and that you won’t crawl back to a man who doesn’t deserve you.”
“Hm…” Goffredo pretended to ponder, but the answer was obvious despite the lack of enthusiasm: “I promise I’ll be okay and I won’t crawl back to my ex-boyfriend.”
Aldo smiled again and wished him goodnight, watching Goffredo go inside to leave. When Goffredo entered the house, he took a deep breath and tried to forget his personal misfortune and his recent shame at having cried in front of Aldo, such a self-assured man. He went up to his room and put on pajamas, picked up a book to read before bed as usual, but couldn’t concentrate on reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Vol. 1 because he kept staring at his phone. Thinking that Mario Assente would at least have the courage to apologize for being such a jerk or ask to come back, Goffredo wasn't sure that, if the second option happened, he would return. Thanks to Aldo's few words, Goffredo didn't succumb to emotional dependence and didn't call Mario, but in the early morning, after tossing and turning in bed unable to sleep, he sent Aldo a message:
“I couldn't thank you in the most appropriate way, you don't know how much good you did by talking to me, I still feel bad, but things could have been much worse. Thank you, Aldo Maria Bellini.”
At home, Aldo still hadn't slept; he had a habit of playing video games on Saturday nights. He was drinking a bottle of beer while taking a break from the game when a notification arrived on his cell phone. It was him. Upon reading the message, Aldo wanted to jump for joy like a teenager, and immediately he replied:
“I'm glad I helped you <3 :)”.
“Oh, I’m sorry if I woke you up.”
“Don’t worry, I usually play video games late into the night on weekends, so I was already awake anyway. And before you think about it, you didn’t interrupt my video game session.”
“Is it a good game?”
“Not so much compared to talking to you ;)” Aldo imagined Goffredo blushing gracefully.
“Being kind to me again, I wish I could reciprocate what you did for me.”
That was the perfect moment to ask him out; maybe the breakup was too recent and Goffredo might reject the invitation, but Aldo preferred to take the risk rather than regret not having made a move.
“I'd love for you to reciprocate my kindness by accepting my invitation to have dinner together.”
Goffredo took a long four minutes to reply; the slight tension from the anticipation of the response made Aldo's heart beat faster.
“I accept :) I need to get out of the house a bit more to forget my problems.”
Aldo was overjoyed; he hadn't imagined Goffredo would accept so quickly considering they had only spoken once, but that's how you meet new people.
“Wonderful!!!”
Those three exclamation marks seemed exaggerated to Aldo after sending them.
“Do you like Korean food? A new restaurant opened downtown and I really want us to check it out together.”
“I've never tried Korean food.”
“Then I'm happy to introduce you to Korean cuisine,” Aldo typed. “What do you think about me picking you up at 5:30 pm?”
Another four minutes passed before a reply arrived.
"Okay, I accept ;) See you at 5:30 PM."