There really was no getting over the surprise, not fully anyway and definitely not for a long while.

Just two weeks ago Aiden had celebrated his birthday on the nineteenth and Alex did what he did best; spend way too much on gifts. While he openly opposed being spoiled in such a way Aiden felt a bit blind sighted by this one but in a good way he supposed.

A year long gym membership to the one nearby his work which had indoor pools that were heated in the fall and winter times as well as indoor and undercover courts for tennis and racquetball; a game the two had not played in over a year.

“Heh, I’ll have to drag him here sometime this week to play a few rounds.” He mused while pushing the door open with ease and stepped inside the establishment.

The woman at the front desk smiled. Well toned body as one would expect; a trainer likely but sadly not his type. Nonetheless he nodded in regard and showed her his membership ID.

“Are any lanes open by chance?” he ask.

The burned hummed as she flipped through the pages of her sign-in book. “Looks like one will be available in about fifteen minutes if you’d like to either wait in the locker room or use some of the equipment while you wait.”

“Okay, thank you. If you could put me down for one hour I’d appreciate it.” Alexandre knew he loved to swim which is likely what prompted him to get the membership here instead of the one closer to his house. Both were nice facilities but this one had a larger pool and two extra lanes that the other didn’t have.

“Mmhmm, sure thing.” The woman nodded her head and put his name down in the book as Aiden put his ID back inside his wallet.

“Thanks!” He replied before turning on his heel, readjusting his gym bag strap on his shoulder and retreating towards the locker room to change.

Aiden had been speechless when he’d first opened the envelope; mouth hung open and eyes wide with surprise he honestly didn’t know what to say.True he did try to give it back but it really didn’t take much convincing to get him to accept. Even his father, who was a lawyer, never bothered to get him such a thing. To say he was touched was an understatement to say the least and honestly in the end he really couldn’t win against Alexandre and somehow Aiden felt like his boyfriend used that to his advantage.


Time went by as a blur while he recounted the events from a few weeks prior and had the previous swimmer not of asked Aiden to move so he could access his locker chances are he wouldn’t have even realised it was his turn.

The water was warm but not in the way that it made you wonder if someone was too lazy to go use the restroom kind of way but comfortable and easy to relax in. Like a massage it worked wonders on his tense muscles as he began swimming from one end of the pool to the other doing breaststrokes for a few laps before moving onto freestyle while letting his mind wander onto other more serious matters concerning the war.