go big or go home

punz

ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ

☆

the gym was surprisingly okay.

punz was adamant that he would only be able to use the treadmill but dream ended up actually showing him different machines and he managed to do a proper workout. it also genuinely helped with his hangover, and he's now feeling wide awake and normal.

well, sort of normal, besides the fact that all his muscles are straining and achy and his knees feel sort of like jelly. other than that, he's fine.

they didn't speak about the kiss.

they worked out for almost two hours and now they're back in the changing rooms and nothing has been said, so punz makes the educated assumption that they're just going to pretend it didn't happen.

that is okay with him. sure, punz is struggling to deal with that little part of him that realised 'oh shit, i do still have a crush on him' just to be disappointed the next day when they didn't mention it, but he thinks it's genuinely better this way.

they would obviously never work together, considering their long past and connection through sapnap, and it would be pointless for them to mess around with the knowledge that there is no end goal for them.

so it was just a mindless, drunken kiss. or, kisses, because there were technically three, but that's not the point.

punz had been full of nerves when he was driving over to the gym earlier today, contemplating cancelling and just staying home, but he used his rational adult brain and concluded nothing good would come from it. avoiding dream would make this whole thing endlessly more awkward, and that is not what he needs.

they're back in the changing rooms now, all sweaty and breathless and alone. this is one of the most expensive gyms in town, so it's not very busy, and they're the only people in the changing rooms.

everything was fine.

everything was fine and under control and punz had spent the last few hours sorting his thoughts to be all rational and proper.

until dream took his shirt off.

immediately, punz is frozen, staring.

the tattoo is bigger than he'd imagined. it's some sort of dragon and covers the whole of dream's left peck, parts moving down to his rib, his left shoulder and part of the top of his arm. punz can't see the back, but he assumes that it spreads down there too, marking his skin like the most eloquent piece of art.

his hand moves on its own accord, lifting to touch the marks, before he catches himself and stops.

"you can touch it," dream confirms, and that's all punz needs before he reaches out and presses his hand against the skin between dream's peck and shoulder.

he traces the lines with the tip of his finger, following them down over the peck before they go up once more, drawn on like scales and fire. he's absolutely captivated.

dream seems to enjoy the featherlight touch of punz tracing the ink so he doesn't stop, though his eyes do fall away for a moment to steal a glance at the taller man's abs. again, he unintentionally finds his gaze on the blonde's defined v-line and forces his gaze away again, cursing how his gut stirs.