JAWS (Complete)

Chapter 12

~*~

Once breakfast is eaten and Sarge is comfortable and dozing on his bed, Reiner drives them to the gym. He's pleased to note that Galliard doesn't slouch in his seat this time, trying to block anyone outside from seeing him, and instead occupies himself playing with the car stereo and checking out Reiner's Sirius stations.

"Which one is your favorite?"

"I like 80s on 8."

Galliard side-eyes him from across the car. "Aren't you too young for that?"

Reiner chuckles. "Probably. My mom listened to it a lot when I was growing up."

"My uncle did too." Galliard goes back to fiddling with the radio. "He really likes Meatloaf."

"My mom likes AC/DC."

Galliard nods approvingly, and sets the station before leaning back in his seat.

They arrive at the gym, and Reiner is deeply pleased when Galliard walks in with him. Hannah raises an eyebrow when she sees them walk in together, but Galliard glares at her and she doesn't say a word. What could she say? For all she knows, they just happened to meet in the parking garage and walk into the gym at the same time. Besides, trainers are supposed to be friendly with their clients, and Galliard is doing exactly that.

How friendly they've gotten is another issue entirely, but Hannah definitely doesn't need to know about that.

They're both already wearing their gym clothes, so after quickly dropping off their gear in Reiner's locker, Reiner starts heading towards the weight benches.

"Where'd you think you're going?" Galliard reaches out and snags the back of Reiner's shirt, drawing him up short.

"We're not going to go lift weights?" Reiner looks back over his shoulder, his brows lifting upwards. Does Galliard have plans for cardio?

"We are, but not yet." Galliard takes his arm and starts leading him towards one of the little offices where they'd done their intake appointment, and Reiner has to actively remind himself where they are and not reach down to take his hand. "We've been at this three weeks now, it's time to measure you again."

"See what gains I've made, huh?" Reiner means it as a joke, but Galliard nods seriously.

"You look like you've gained some muscle mass back, and your legs are definitely bigger than when we started." He leads Reiner into an office and closes the door, then turns around and ducks in to squeeze the big muscles on top of Reiner's thighs. "I've been paying attention."

Reiner reaches for him, but Galliard slips away before he can. "No. Hold still, I've got work to do."

Galliard starts at Reiner's extremities and works his way to his core, and Reiner is startled to discover that he's gained half an inch on both thighs and a quarter inch on his biceps. His waist is the same, and Reiner realizes that Galliard's strategy here is brilliant: he started with the body parts most likely to have made gains and then worked his way to the ones that weren't, so Reiner could feel a sense of accomplishment while still having something to strive towards.

"All right, the last one is your chest. Lift your arms up for me."

Reiner does, and Galliard wraps the measuring tape around his back and moves to close it and get a measurement in the front. He's less cautious about touching Reiner than he was when they first did this, pulling the tape tight, and when he does, his hands brush against Reiner's nipples.