The Summit

Preparation

I hope you keep enjoying my grumpy Lil man Finn. <3

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That weekend, Finnley returned to the gym despite the slight soreness in his muscles. It was Saturday now and he planned to go Sunday as well. The rest of the group wasn't going to meet until later in the days during the week and with a bouldering trip approaching, Finn didn't want to take any time off. Others in the group were better than him and he could guarantee that at least half of the group would be going on the trip with confidence. The rest would either be training hard or just not going.

One person he knew would be training a lot irked him to his core. He recalled that yesterday after practice, he got a text from a random number. It turned out to be none other than Griffin. Finn gladly let him know that he was a creep for getting his number from Sarah, but he was shot down when he was told that Sarah actually did it of her own accord. This event left Finn grumpy for the rest of the day, mostly because Griffin made sure he knew how glad he was for his help. Being praised or thanked like that felt unnatural and Finnley's only coping mechanism was anger. However, today was a new day. No Griffin to bring him down, only fun rock climbing and maybe a trip to a local flower garden.

With a puff of his chest, Finn felt ready to climb the same wall as before without slipping. He was in the zone, nearly to the top when an all too annoying voice called to him.

"Finnley, hey! Lookin' good!" It caused Finn to nearly lose his concentrated balance on the wall. He never got the chance to just climb anymore without the boy catching him.

"Shut up." His teeth were clamped together and he panted a little as he made his way to the top. When he finally made it, he turned to shoot an icy glare in Griffin's direction. It appeared he was gearing up to practice, but decided to watch Finnley while he was at it.

"What do you want?" Finn let out an exasperated sigh. There's no way he was helping again, not when he had to deal with it all day yesterday.

"I just wanted to say hi. It would've been rude to just ignore you," Griffin explained honestly, his deep voice showing no sign of mischief. It made absolutely no sense to Finn. Why say hi or socialize at all with a kid your friends bullied? If it were Finn, he'd be too ashamed to even look his way.

"Well, I wish you would've." Finnley climbed down the wall and removed the clip on the harness so he could continue onto the next wall. "See ya." He added once he was free, turning on his heel. Griffin was left baffled by the attitude and Finn was glad. He'd never let him break down any of his walls, no matter how nice. He almost felt like if he did, he'd be betraying part of himself.

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After a couple of hours of climbing and occasionally watching Griffin whenever he could see him, Finn decided he was ready to go get lunch and then go visit the flower garden. Although the gym showers were cleaned frequently, Finn took every precaution as he washed away the sweat from climbing. When he was all fresh, he got dressed in blue jean overalls and a white t-shirt with light blue stripes. His shoes were plain white converse, a staple of many of his outfits. His hair was still slightly damp when he was exiting the bathroom. Unfortunately, Griffin had just finished a climb and was taking a drink. He was sure that Griffin would try to bug him so he began to speed walk toward the exit, gripping his duffle bag tightly.

Almost like a moth drawn to a lamp, Griffin stopped what he was doing to irritate Finn. "Awh, you won't tell me bye even when you look that cute?" He faked a pout but it was so easy to see right through him with how his eyes twinkled in amusement.

"Nope!" Finn hated the flirtatious idiot with everything in him. Screw him. It was difficult to read Griffin. There were two options, he was genuinely attracted to Finn or he was making fun of him. Finnley highly doubted that there was any attraction there, however, and honestly hoped there never would be. Teasing like that made it difficult to ignore him, however.