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Finally! It was the weekend and Gilmore could get rid of the pudge he'd been storing for about seven months now. He'd gotten so soft while his fitness kick had faded and he focused on work. But he'd been honestly into someone now, so he was making an effort.

He'd gotten there early morning, popped his headphones in, and started his 'usual workout'. Which for Gil was basically a grueling 90 day workout that would leave him completely stiff and sore, but at least he could also do it while he was at work, between the jobs. Sometimes he'd sit for hours, and why not have some easy to travel with weights in the company truck? Sheeeeesh.

Though this gym was obviously air conditioned, looking at Gilmore, you wouldn't know it. He was on the mats that were laid out in the corner of the gym, in front of a bunch of mirrors, like most of the machines were, doing squats while a bar holding 20 pounds on each side sat across his shoulders. Sweat was practically pouring down his forehead, further soaking the dark green tank top he wore. With each squat down, he let out a loud exhale and then right back up on the inhale. There was no counting out loud, only in his head. Of course he had the instructor in his ear, not needing to see it anymore to know what the man was talking about. It wasn't the first time he'd done this.

He seemed so focused, however, that he didn't notice anyone watching him.

After about seven more squats, Gil sighed and dropped out of the stance and put the weight back on the bar before he grabbed his towel and groaned. It was finally, finally a break.

God, this was kicking his a**. Was it because he was so ancient now?

One earbud was popped out as he wandered to a locker close by to get his water bottle, toweling his face and neck as he went.

A voice pipped up and caught Gilmore off guard. It was odd to be talked to in a gym but he was always open to it. Turning and looking down, he spotted the other and then blinked a little.

"Sure," he said around a mouthful of water still. He took another large swig from the bottle before capping it and just keeping it in his hand. "I can always try!" Obviously not going to make promises he could answer, but trying was the absolute least he could do.

Out of instinct, he'd already ducked a little bit to hear better, and so the other person didn't have to strain themselves too badly by looking up constantly. Ah well, his legs were all nice and warmed up anyway.

"So how can I help you?"

Gilmore was used to the kind of shocked reaction from people once they came closer to him. He'd been the big guy his entire life, so he was patient with it. However, this man's words weren't actually about his height, and had something to do with his muscles!

Fun! That's not something he got asked before.

"Uh, I'm no trainer, no!" His voice was loud, colored with warmth and amusement. He wasn't laughing at the guy, not at all. "Flattered you think so. I do a lot of those hard core work outs. Lots of those P90X videos. Uh... Lots of weights too, to really build stuff up."

Gilmore thought for a moment, licking his lips. "Trainers, though yeah. Huh. Uh, I know this gym's got trainers! Even if you don't wanna pay them, they can probably give you like a consultation or something. I would start with push ups, squats, and sit ups though. I did that a lot when I was just starting to work out. Helped a bunch. Then I added chin-ups.."

With a huff, the man put a hand behind his head and rubbed his neck, under his dreads. "Sorry, kinda rambled."

Ah man, Gil hated to disappoint someone, and he'd seen that brief flash of something fall over that face when he said he wasn't a trainer. However, he wasn't a friend, so he wasn't going to bend over backwards but he could tell this guy his work out schedule.

"I'm not here more than the weekends, but I'm here for several hours! So... if you happen to come in those days, I can probably research some good beginning strength work outs for you to start. I follow YouTube videos, so you shouldn't feel ashamed for that!" He continued to grin, hoping to keep the other at ease.

"I'm Gilmore, by the way. I'd be here more, but I got a job with cranes, so five days a week, many, many hours...." It was said with an animated eye roll before he managed to straighten himself up. His thighs had been shaking from staying in that position so long. A quick stretch, and he was back to it. "But yeah, we can probably find you a lot of good work outs. Never skip leg day, either. Just as important as your core and arms. No one likes little toothpick legs on a muscled body anyway." He laughed at that because he'd seen some competitions when you can tell they skipped a certain group way more than the others.

"It takes a long time to get strong. You have to destroy your muscles over and over so they build back stronger. It's gonna take at least a few months!" Depending on how strong he wanted to get, honestly. Gil also may have done some flexing, his arms bulging more, a pose was struck, not very dramatic, but it was clear what was happening. He even made his pecks jump a little.

"December?" That was such a cute name. Dessy was an even cuter nickname honestly. His brown eyes shown with amusement as he held out his phone for the other, grinning. His own was just a little, sleek smart phone. Well, little to him, it was one of the larger iPhones, but it was still smaller in his hands.

So he handed it over to December to leave his info in and carefully took the other's smaller phone to put his number into it. He even labeled himself as Gil with a flexing arm emoji afterward, as if it'd be hard to forget him. "There. Now we can meet up. I get here about six or seven AM, but again, here for hours. You don't have to show up that early." He did still need to get his own work out in, after all.

"To be completely honest though, you're already on the right track. I see you flexing. Everyone starts off like that."

"When you work out you ...basically tear your muscles up and then resting that group you've worked on for a day or two builds them back even stronger than before." At least that's how he understood it from gym class when he was in high school many moons ago. He never really bothered to learn if it was true or not, but he did follow the pattern of working out a group or two at a time, then focus your attention to another group another day.

Some days all he did was cardio because the rest of him needed a big break.

"Eight or nine's a really good time! I'm still here." He usually left about eleven and had himself a really good lunch. Nine is when he took a break for a quick protein snack, so if December showed up then, it'd work out.

Seeing the reindeer emoji, Gil couldn't stop the chuckle and he put his phone back in his bag before toweling himself off again. That was really adorable.

"Yeah, I'm almost ready to wrap up and head home." Cool down stretches and a short walk on the treadmill and Gilmore would be on his way home. He was so tired. Legs and glutes were definitely hurting him today. "Just text me when you wanna get started! Like I said, mainly here on weekends."

Did he say that? Huh, he couldn't quite remember, but if not, he said it now.

"Alright. Cardio's important too! Just don't hurt yourself too badly." Gilmore grinned and nodded, taking his bottle up again. He took a few more mouthfuls while he could.

Gilmore would watch December head toward the treadmills before just chuckling to himself. It was never too late to start building strength. He was happy the other seemed so eager.

He would think about this as he headed to do what he said, staring his cool down stretches on the mats again. He couldn't really touch his toes, not very flexible, but it was a lot better than it used to be. Maybe he could add some yoga to his work outs and stretching. Maybe more flexibility would help him out in other areas. Things to ponder.