Learning the Ropes Ch. 05

Chapter 5: Fitness Consultation

After performing his “self-care,” HR blissfully fell asleep, excited for the next day. That was, until he received a call from an unknown number.

Still half asleep, HR brought his phone up to his ear. “Hel-”

“Hilbane!” A familiar and excited voice emanated from the phone, pounding his ear drum and waking him up instantly.

“Lai Chan? How did you get my number?” While it was entirely pleasant, the sudden phone call was still a surprise.

“Allison gave it to me.” How the fuck did she have his number? “Anyway, I did it!”

He wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that but she seemed rather excited to tell him. “Congratulations…?”

“It was hard at first because I’m used to you being here and you aren’t but then I used your shirt and everything worked out!” She used his what?

“My shirt?”

“Yeah, you left it here.” HR remembered he arrived home with less than what he left with. In his hurry to leave before he did something they would both regret, and to get home to do what he knew she was doing, he left his gym bag in her room.

The endless possibilities of what one could get up to with their lover’s garments were coursing through his mind. He wondered what her preference would be. “What, uh, what did you do with it?”

“It smells like you, so I smelled it while I masturbated. It was sorta like you were here with me.” She sounded almost proud of herself for coming up with the workaround for his absence.

HR tried as hard as he could to ignore the implication that just his smell could rile her up. He failed.

“Well,” he cleared his throat, “I’m proud of you, Lai Chan. Good job.” Congratulating someone on something most are ashamed to admit even happens was an interesting feeling. He tended to get a lot of interesting feelings in his interactions with Lai Cha- his girlfriend. There was one now. Lai Chan, in all her glory, was his girlfriend. His goofy smile joined what he could only assume was her own on the other end of the line.

“Thanks! See you tomorrow!” And then the line was dead. Just a quick check in about her masturbatory habits to cap off the night. Nothing weird there. HR took care of himself to the thought of her smelling his shirt before returning to sleep.

—

Awaking from his sweet dreams, HR was excited to make even sweeter memories with his girlfriend. After his workout, of course.

After escaping his mother’s smothering love, and a quick brunch, he was out of the house and headed to the gym, trying his best not to skip due to the sheer amount of mirth in his body.

For once, HR was actually looking forward to going to the gym. No longer was it a place he went to get bullied for several hours at a time. Now it stood as a monument to the feelings he and Lai Chan shared. The thought that he wouldn’t see her there put a small damper on his smile, but the knowledge that he’d see her after made it a-okay. Even the thought of dealing with his three most active harassers couldn’t harsh his vibe.

Once again, he made it all but three steps into the gym before someone called out to him.

“Oh, what the fuck are you doing here!?” The head trainer looked up from watching two more experienced members of the gym spar and locked onto HR. He tucked his clipboard under his armpit and stomped over to the scared elf. HR thought everyone liked him, despite their bullying. This less than warm reception confused him.

“I’m doing my work out…?” He stated the obvious, even more confused at how his honest answer seemed to make the man angrier.

“No you aren’t. I told you and your little girlfriend-” Panic rose in him. He didn’t know why, but his immediate response was to deny.

“She’s not my girlfrie-”

“Oh, blow it out your ass HR. I don’t give a damn about what you two get up to outside of our sessions, as long as it’s not her using that damn home gym when she should be resting!”

“But you told her not to. She wouldn’t-”

“Yes the fuck she would! She’s worked out through an injury before and I have no doubt in my mind she’d do it again. Which is why I told you to go with her and make sure she didn’t.”

“But-but why me? What am I supposed to-”

“For the love of- are you blind? She follows you around like a lovesick puppy. She won’t listen to me, but she’ll listen to you. Or at least be too distracted trying to get into your pants to work out. I don’t care what you do. But make sure she doesn’t touch a weight or do even a single sit up. I can’t have my best fighter getting sick before a title match.”

The look in the trainer’s eyes left no room for discussion. And HR understood where he was coming from, slightly. Despite all the pretenses of keeping her healthy for the fight, he really did care for her like a daughter. In his own way. Like teaching her to fight so that she would get hurt as little as possible in the octagon… that he put her in. He cared for her.

Going two for two to making a scene by merely entering the premises, HR turned and walked back out the door, making sure to not look anywhere but the exit for fear of meeting Jazmin’s eyes. He could feel the glare on his back as he left.

Having no need for his work out clothes anymore, and the want to look sort of presentable to her family, HR quickly returned home and switched into jeans and an open button down with a t-shirt underneath. He tried not to look too excited as he walked to Lai Chan’s place.

He arrived at her place in the early afternoon and was let in by one of the estate’s many servants. He felt a bit awkward that they knew his name, but having been there now three times in three days, he figured it would make sense that he’d be known. They, rightly, assumed he was there to see Lai Chan and lead him straight to her.

He found her eating breakfast with her two younger sisters, one of whom wasn’t very pleased to see him.

“Oh come the fuck on!” Veronica yelled, almost throwing down the fork and knife she was using to eat her omelet. In stark contrast, Lai Chan shot out of her chair and hugged him, leaving her bowl of cereal behind.

“Boyfriend!” She squealed while squeezing him a bit too hard. While being constricted, HR noticed a pungent yet familiar smell. The smell of the gym. The smell of old sweat and body odor. It was then he realized that she was currently wearing his shirt from yesterday. Some joke about them having advanced to the stage where she wears his stuff already was quickly sidelined in favor of him remembering what she had done with that very shirt. He wondered if the smell of it made her horny right now.

In any case, his moment of introspection was interrupted by her separating herself just enough to look him in the eye.

“What are you doing here?”

“Coach wanted me to make sure you didn’t work out. On account of you being sick and all.” It was Mai Fan’s turn to say something.

“You’re sick?” Lai Chan turned around and shushed her with mild panic.

“No… we just had to tell my trainer that for… reasons.” Mai Fan gasped and Veronica’s mood switched from fury to fully incredulous as she looked from Lai Chan to him.

“No, seriously. What the fuck is your dick made of? You got her to lie!? To get out of training?” Judging by her tone and what HR knew of his girlfriend, he could put together that both of those things didn’t happen too often, if at all.

“No – well yes, but we had a very good reason.” A reason that he realized he couldn’t say out loud. “… a reason that I realize I can’t tell you but trust me, it was a good one. Anyway, he’s just worried about her being ready for the upcoming match.”

That got a rise out of Lai Chan. She snapped out of her panic as if she just remembered she was going up for the title soon.

“That’s right!” She removed herself from HR’s person, a little too willingly for his liking, and moved to leave the room.

“Where are you going?” She looked at him as if she were worried about his mental capacity.

“To my room, duh. I need to train.” She then gasped as an idea hit her. “Since you’re here, we can train together!” She moved back towards him, reaching for his shoulder.

As much as personal training with her that he believed would one hundred percent turn into sexy time was appealing, his fear of her coach outweighed his desire to touch her inappropriately. He liked going to their gym and did not want to be kicked out for being too horny. Luckily, he had an idea that let him spend time with her and not go against the wishes of the almighty gym.

He intercepted her outstretched hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He closed the gap between them, her momentum causing her to crash into him. He placed a hand on her hip and used that force to spin them around. Once stopped, they looked, or at least he hoped they looked, as if seconds away from performing a world class tango.

The impromptu move had the effect he desired. It definitely stunned Lai Chan, whose face was now flushed with wide eyes. He was pleasantly reminded of her naturally cool skin as her fingers slowly but firmly closed around his hand. He heard Mai Fan let out some sort of half gasp-half squeak combo as she covered her mouth. The noise of pure disgust that left Veronica was the final indicator that he had done something right. HR inwardly congratulated himself on being somewhat smooth, even if it was as cheesy as that.

Though an equal part of himself sighed in relief. He went into that fully expecting her training to kick in and to eat a hip throw or something from Lai Chan.

“Ooooor…” he trailed off, trying to milk his sudden burst of faux charisma for all it was worth. Lai Chan followed along, almost in a trance.

“Or?”

“We could use this free time and go on a date.” He expected her to scream yes and maybe hug him again. Followed by a minute or two of pure excitement. He got exactly one of those things.

“Yes!” The excitement in her eyes almost blinded him just as her scream almost deafened him. She once again separated them and sprinted out of the room, on her way out calling, “Wait here while I get ready!” And with that, she was gone.