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It’s Shane's senior year in university and he’s determined to make it through the year with zero distractions. All he wants is to pass all his classes and get through the year so he can finally get drafted to the NHL like he’s always dreamed of. If he can get laid during that time, he wouldn’t complain. But that was unlikely between work, school, and hockey he didn’t know how he would find the time for anything. Not to mention Shane has… particular preferences. It’s one thing for Shane to admit he is gay, after all these years he can do that much. But to admit to anyone other than his private browser what he really wants, yeah that’s scary. It almost didn’t matter anyway, he was used to being alone. And for the most part that was okay. It’s really only when Hayden starts bothering him about his lack of love life, that it gets to him.
“Come on dude! Would it really kill you to just put yourself out there? You could easily get with any dude you wanted!” Hayden chirps as they close up the bar for the night together. Shane just rolls his eyes and huffs a laugh.
“It’s not that simple, and all the guys at McGill are disgusting,” He explains while he wipes down the bar counter.
“Okay so find a guy who isn't at McGill and isn’t disgusting!” Hayden says, like he's solved all of Shane’s problems just like that. Shane knows that Hayden is just trying to help but he doesn’t want to hear solutions right now.
“Yeah whatever, lets just get this over with so we can get out of here,” Hayden just shrugs sympathetically but ultimately nods and focuses back on work.
It’s not that Shane didn’t want to find a nice guy, well maybe nice isn’t the right word. Shane just figures that there's no way his dream man could exist so there's no point in looking. And he isn’t even one hundred percent sure what he wants because he’s a virgin after all. Twenty-two years old and the furthest he’s gotten with anyone is second base with his high school girlfriend at grad formal. He quickly shakes any unsavory thoughts from his head and hurries to the office to clock out for the night once he and Hayden are finished for the night.
Later that night Shane somehow finds himself laying awake still thinking about Hayden’s words. He doesn’t really have a life so how would he meet someone outside of his usual social circles, he thinks. He’s honestly scared to talk to someone in a romantic or sexual capacity too, despite the fact he very much does want to have sex. It’s already past his bed time so he shuts his eyes and turns over to go to sleep, ignoring the heat pooling in his abdomen.
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It’s the next morning, the weekend, and Shane is already well into his daily routine. He finishes mixing his preworkout drink for the gym and hops into his old beat up camry with over a hundred and eighty thousand miles on it and heads to the gym. Shane likes to go to the gym on weekends between practices to stay fit. It’s just another uneventful day in his life, he scans his membership card at the door and swiftly drops his bag off in the locker room before heading to the open floor area with his yoga mat to start with his stretches like he always does.
He’s alternating between upward and downward dog when he feels eyes on him, he doesn’t think much of it and just turns up the music in his headphones trying to drown it out. Today Shane was planning to do glutes and cardio so he was wearing his shorts with a five inch inseam and a worn McGill redbirds shirt. When he drops into puppy pose and arches his ass high in the air, his shorts ride up unbelievable high on his thighs. A faint cough could be heard across the gym but again Shane didn’t think anything of it. Once he finishes his stretches he’s feeling loose and ready for his work out. He makes his way to the weights section of the gym and grabs a plate and two 50lb dumbbells. Without ceremony he gets right into his split leg RDL’s. He’s right next to the smith machines and he can see a group of large men standing over there out of the corner of his eye. He saw them when he first arrived but he wasn’t looking very closely. Now that he’s right next to them he has a better look and he likes what he sees if he’s being real. He turns his body just slightly towards the mirror spanning across the entire wall of the gym, to get a better look. He sees two big buys standing on either side of one of the smith machines and another man doing bench presses on the machine. He bites his lips as he looks at all the weight on each side of the bar. Shane wasn't certain but the man had to be lifting at least three hundred pounds, he shudders as he bends down to finish his last rep in that set. He glances at the bulging forearms of the man, veins popping out that Shane wanted to lick. He quickly pauses his music to listen to the grunts coming from the mystery man. His face immediately heats up as deep primal grunts fill his ears, god he sounds so manly. Shane hasn’t even seen his face yet. The other two men by the smith machine look older, older than Shane by a lot. But sexy, they’re tall and muscular like they’ve been working out since they were Shane's age and they have wrinkles around their eyes as they smile and hype up their friend on the bench.
“Fuck yeah! I don’t know how you do it, you animal,”
“Yeah Roz! Fucking Beautician thats what I’m talking about!” He hears one of them say as the mystery man who is apparently called Roz, racks the weights and sits up, huffing and puffing with a small grin on his face. Shane is stunned instantly, the man is gorgeous. He has dark golden curls and piercing blue eyes. The grin on his face looks like nothing but trouble and it’s framed by the sexiest goatee Shane has ever seen. Shane could never grow hair on his face like that, or get that muscular no matter how hard he worked out. The man had faint wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead, thick eyebrows and a strong jaw. He stood from the bench to grab a water bottle nearby and Shane’s mouth parted slowly as he observed. The man is huge, shoulders almost the size of Shane's head, pectorals bursting from under his tank top and his back was like a vast never ending valley of groves where muscles dipped and protruded. His quads were like strong tree trunks coming out of his shorts. Shane blinks several times in a row and gulps deeply, his throat working as he kept his eyes closed for a brief moment to center himself. Now he is thoroughly flustered and decides he needs to walk away before he gets caught staring. He puts away his weights and walks to the half way across the gym to the hip thrust machine, as he walks he feels the same predatory eyes on him as before. This time curiosity kills the cat and he looks over to the source of the attention and his eyes lock with the mystery man. For a moment the man just looks at him with an unreadable expression, scanning him up and down, and Shane is frozen. Is he looking at me? He couldn’t be. He thinks. Shane pulls his bottom lip between his teeth again as pink rushes to his cheeks and the man just raises a judgemental eyebrow at him. If Shane thought he couldn’t get flustered further, he was wrong. He scrunches his eyes shut and turns to start loading the hip thrust machine with his weights. What the fuck was that?! He isn’t sure what just happened but it’s left him with a queasy feeling in his stomach that's slowly traveling down to his pants.
He pushes the interaction to the back of his mind and keeps going through his work out. By the time he’s on the treadmill he’s able to calm down. Shane loves running, it’s a great way for him to clear his head and he loves the pain of the burn he feels in his body when he’s pushed himself. Everything is going routinely until he feels a shadow swallow all the light to the left of him. He looks over like a deer in head lights and all he sees is chest, big and broad. He tilts his chin up and he’s met with cold, mean blue eyes looking right at him. He wants to shrink into nothing or run away, he doesn’t know what to do or say. Before he can do anything though, the other man speaks.
“You were watching me,” He says, it’s not a question. His voice is deep and unwavering, and he has an accent that almost makes Shane’s knees buckle on the spot. He is so overwhelmed right now. It’s not like he has never been approached before, he knows he’s cute. But no guy or girl that’s ever approached him has ever caught his interest. And Shane isn’t even sure that’s what this is. He’s half convinced this guy is about to call him a creep and tell him off or something.
“W-what,” Is all he can say, stuttering like an idiot.
“You heard me,” The man says apathetically.
“I- Sorry,” Shane says as he finally breaks eye contact and looks down in front of him at the dashboard of his treadmill, feeling shy and nervous by how this guy is talking to him so bluntly.
“Did you see something you liked? You ran away quite fast little boy,” The man quips condescendingly, each syllable curved by his thick accent. Shane scoffs at that, however, he is very much an adult.
“ ‘m not a little boy,” He rolls his eyes and keeps avoiding eye contact with the stranger.
“You did not answer my question,” the strange yet abrasive man reminds. Still looking right at shane.
“Uhh w-what do you mean?”
“Hmm I think so yes.. You looked so pretty when you ran away all blushing and biting your lip,” He breathes a laugh even though there’s nothing funny to Shane.
“I-I-.... Sorry?” Shane says while simultaneously trying to make himself as small as possible.
“No is okay, I was looking too, I see you stretching earlier and I also like what I see,” The man explains further. Ohh, Shane gets it now, this guy is flirting… He thinks. Shane slows his treadmill down to a walking speed because he’s decided he is too distracted to run now.
“Oh! Really?” He dares to be bold as he looks back up at the face of the man he's talking to only to find the foreigner still looking right at him like he wants the boy for his next meal. He gives a small smile, feeling heat creep back up his cheeks .
“Da, really. What is your name, pretty boy?”
“Shane,” Is all he says, afraid he’ll embarrass himself if he says anything else.
“Is nice to meet you Shane, I am Ilya,” His lips curl at the clearly nervous boy.
“It’s nice to meet you too sir,” Shane only said that out of muscle memory from talking to his professors and boss at work all the time. And Ilya has an authoritative demeanor to him to say the least, but Shane still cringes internally at his choice of words. Ilya however, just raises an eyebrow at him again, seeming to be enjoying Shane’s awkwardness.
“Just Ilya is ok Shane,”
“Oh ok.. Ilya.”
“Maybe I will see you around later?” Ilya says as he stops his treadmill and takes a swig of his water. Stealing another glance at Shane out the corner of his eye while his adams apple bobbing as he swallowed.
“Y-yeah I hope so!” Shane wants someone to come sedate him, why the fuck he said that? He doesn't know, he can't even think straight. He closes his eyes tight and scrunches his face up like it’ll make him disappear. He hears a sultry laugh distantly behind him.
“Bye pretty!” The older man calls softly with a shit eating grin before he disappears into the locker room, leaving Shane’s heart beating concerningly fast. Shane turns off his treadmill and just stands there for a second, trying to shove down the butterflies in his stomach.
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