As much as he hated it, Tris did occasionally make himself go to the gym. It wasn’t his natural home and he never had the discipline to build up any real muscle mass, but if he was destined to be tall and lanky, he at least wanted to be lean with that and he quite liked the idea of a six pack he’d managed to maintain over the years. These days, more importantly, Chris really liked that idea of a six pack, which was even more motivation to keep him running on the treadmill until he felt like he was going to drop, trying not to look at what a sweaty mess he was in the floor to ceiling, wall to wall mirrors of the Odyssey’s gym. He had to look at something though and he generally ended up scanning what was behind him - which was how he caught sight of Blake.
Blake was in the gym almost every day. Most times it was in the early mornings, but when that didn’t work he would fit a workout in during the day whenever he could. Today he was working arms, which had him sitting on a bench and doing arm curls. Later he would move to a free weight machine, but for now he was happy with just the arm curls. He paused to take a drink, looking up and across the room only to catch eyes with Tris in the mirrors against the wall. He hadn’t noticed Tris when he’d come in, then again he’d had his mind on working out than actually paying attention to who was running on the treadmills.
“Hey,” he called out and gave a small hand wave with a smile.
Tris hit the buttons to slow to a walk, then to a stop, more than happy for the excuse to stop. Grabbing the towel he’d lain aside, he blotted his forehead, then slung it round his neck and collected his water bottle as he headed over to Blake. “Hey,” he said in return, taking a swig of cool water and stretching out his aching legs, not wanting to seize up after all that. “How’s it going?” It felt a bit weird. After all, he lived with this guy, but between Tris’ job and Blake’s, they didn’t see much of each other. The foibles of shift work. Plus significant others that took up a whole lot of their time. He still didn’t know Blake all that well, his impressions mostly formed from afar and from what he was told. Good impressions - ‘Mr. Perfect’ really had been a well meant moniker, but not based on an in depth knowledge by any stretch of the imagination.
When Tris came his way, he finished the set he was on and then set the barbel down. “It’s going,” he chuckled before taking another drink of his water. He and Tris rarely talked and the fact of the matter was that Blake was easily jealous of the man. The connection that Tris had with Ethan was one that made Blake wonder why the two of them were not a couple. Sometimes he thought the two of them were fooling themselves. “Everything is getting back to semi-normal now that we are back on the ship,” he said. Stockholm had been crazy. “What about you? How’s things going?”
Tapping his temple, Tris quirked a grin. “Got a clean bill of health. Over the concussion. No broken bones and the bruising’s mostly gone,” he said, making more of a joke of it. He knew he could have been more badly hurt. The whole thing had been terrifying, knowing it wasn’t only him but everyone he loved at risk. “So, let’s never do that again. Which is a shame, because that hotel was amazing, right?”
Blake, himself, had had a few bruises, but that was all. Thankfully. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “The hotel was pretty sweet, but that city was damn as crazy,” he chuckled again. “I bet we can find more hotels just as amazing though.” That he was sure on. “With sunshine and beaches and ice cold beer.” Because nothing was more perfect than that, or maybe there was. “Or trees and cabins and lakes to go fishing in with ice cold beer,” he chuckled.
Tris raised an eyebrow. “Tell you what - you can have the fishing all to yourself,” he said with a laugh. No way he was going to be doing that. “Sunshine and beaches and ice cold beer - that I can get behind.”
“That’s what Ethan says, too,” Blake laughed. “I told him I sometimes do it shirtless, and that enticed him a little.” He sighed at the thought that no one liked to fish. It was really disheartening. “Well, let’s hope that is where we are heading then. I think we all could use some really good relaxation, something stress free that won’t get us all either killed or kidnapped.”
“How’s Christian doing?”
“I think Ethan would be into anything if it involved you being shirtless,” Tris teased. He knew his friend. He knew how into this guy he was and, honestly, Tris supported that. Sure, there would always be that part of him inside, that slither that wondered why he'd never been good enough, but he didn't listen to that. He had Chris now and he couldn't imagine being happier with anyone else. Ethan deserved to be happy with his man.
Tris’ face softened at the question. “Chris is good. Great.” Amazing. He felt giddy just thinking about it, but then blushed a little, self conscious at the knowledge that Blake had heard them. Knew some of their private secrets.
“Yeah, so I’ve learned,” Blake chuckled. It didn’t bother him too much that Ethan wasn’t into the same things as he was, they did have some commonalities and that was what mattered. He took another swig of his water and then put it down to pick up the barbell and start doing arm curls again, though he was finding he wasn’t really feeling working out now.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” he laughed lightly at seeing the blush that crossed Tris’ face. “Nothing to be embarrassed about at all,” he grinned. “You and Chris seem good together, happy. I know that Ethan is happy for y’all.”
Tris rolled his eyes. “That’s because Ethan’s a hopeless romantic who’s been trying to set me up with anyone and everyone since the day we met.” Anyone but him - Tris knew Ethan had only been interested in him as a roll in the hay, but he was moving past that now. Having what he had with Chris was a balm for any residual jealousy he felt about the fact that clearly Blake was so much better than Tris.
“That he is,” Blake chuckled. “Which surprises me. I’m usually the more romantic one in a relationship, but Ethan can definitely bring it all out when he wants to.” He thought back to the moment in Stockholm there Ethan had finally told him he loved him. Ethan had had the room set to romantic, the level all the way up and it had been fantastic.
“Never let it be said that Ethan Clarke does anything by halves,” Tris said, drily. He shrugged. “Ethan just doesn’t like people to think he has weaknesses and being romantic means taking a risk that you’ll be rejected. Much safer to, say, take your best friend and try and live vicariously through him.” Tris grinned, adding, “Until he found you and now I get to turn it round on him. Which he hates. I’m glad he finally got his head out of his ass though.”
“That he does not,” Blake chuckled. Ethan did everything at 110%, nothing less. If he wasn’t giving it his all, then he wasn’t into it. “I try to let him know having weaknesses doesn’t make you less of a man, but…” he shrugged. “I’m glad he finally pulled his head out, too,” he smiled. “I think what he feels for me still scares him, but he’s finally accepting it,” he moved a hand to push hair back. He looked at Tris for a moment and then shook his head. “I always thought….well...I mean...I always thought he had more feelings for you.”
“For me?” Tris barked a laugh. “Hell no.” He rolled his eyes. “I mean, when we first met, he tried to get into my pants pretty much consistently. And just as consistently made it damn clear he'd never be interested in anything else. He never had ‘feelings’ for me. Not like that. Not like he has for you.”
Blake was quiet for a moment, thinking. Going in to a relationship with Ethan, he had assumed that it would only be sex, but something had changed quickly. He’d felt it. There was something more, and he knew that Ethan had felt it to. “I’d say sorry,” he grinned at Tris and laughed. “But I’m not. I mean, I’d much rather him have the feels for me,” he grinned again. “You and he, though…” he struggled to find the right words. “It’s clear the two of you have a connection, and it’s good that he has a great friend like you.”
Tris paused for a minutes assessing Blake. When he finally spoke, it was careful and deliberate. “If you're worried that I might try and steal your man, don’t. I’m one hundred percent, entirely devoted to Christian. He’s my partner. Ethan’s my brother.”
Blake smiled and then looked down at his water bottle he’d picked up. “I may have been worried before,” he admitted. “But that went away when Ethan finally told me he loved me,” he glanced up at Tris. “I know he wouldn’t have said it if he didn’t mean it, it was a big deal for him.”
“It was a huge deal for him,” Tris agreed, glad that this wasn’t going to be a problem. He didn’t want this to be a problem - Blake was so good for Ethan and Tris didn’t want to be the thing that stood in the way of that, especially not when he really wasn’t. “I’ll admit, I was kinda surprised to see you, that day we came here. I knew something was different, right from that moment.”
Blake nodded. “Yeah, at that point I knew that I loved him if I was willing to leave home to live on a ship. I had to give myself the chance to see if he loved me back, or if it was something else,” he explained. He had thought he may just be a play thing for Ethan and he’d toss him to the side when he found someone else. Lucky for Blake, that hadn’t happened. Things were working out.
Tris didn’t point out that a lot of people would have taken up the invitation to move to the ship just to escape the plague. Hell, part of Tris had, at the time, believed that had to have been Christian’s reason. At least half of it. Then again, back then Tris hadn’t been in a place to accept how Chris, looking back, had already so clearly felt about him. Plus, in all honesty, Tris hadn’t been entirely sure whether Ethan hadn’t been bringing a plaything on board. It had been different, sure, just not clear what kind of different. “Glad it worked out for you then,” he said with a smile. “Y’seem to have found your place here as well okay.”
“Thanks,” Blake smiled. He was happy, and he hoped that Ethan was happy as well. “I think Ethan thinks it’s strange that instead of treating this like some long vacation I choose to work,” he chuckled. “But I need to do something or I’d go stir crazy, start throwing people overboard or something,” he teased. “How is Christian? Last time I talked with him, he mentioned going back to school or something, has he decided to do that?”
“Oh god, yeah - I know that feeling,” Tris said with a laugh. “I would have gone stir crazy on here already if it wasn’t for my job. But when Ethan found out, you would have thought I’d killed his puppy. He just didn’t get it. He thought it was some kind of snub to him, when really it’s that I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I couldn’t play.” Tris smiled as the subject of Chris was raised. “Chris is god. Great. He’s taking classes with Velma - or they’re planning. I can’t really keep up. I’m glad he’s going back to school though - he’s far too smart to just let that go,” he added, clearly proud of his boyfriend.
“Yeah, I think it may bother him I’m not there twenty-four seven,” Blake chuckled. “But I think we both need that break, too. He may find out how much he really doesn’t like me if we were glued at the hip all the time,” he ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve always worked, always had something to do, and really…” he trailed off for a moment. “I miss being a firefighter. The adrenaline...working in security is the closest I could get here.” He nodded about Chris, glad the guy was going through with continuing his education. “I’m glad for him,” he smiled. “I know we all room together and all, but we don’t always spend a lot of time together,” he pointed out. “We all should get together for a meal, or hang out at the bar or….something.”
“I dunno - Ethan’s always been vocally against double dating,” Tris said with a quirked smile. “Apparently that’s far too normal for someone like him. I think he’d take it as an affront to his own self-image. Me? I’d be down for that if you can change his mind. You seem to be kinda good at that.”
Blake laughed. “Well, he wasn’t into the whole ‘Love’ word either, so…” he shrugged. “I’ll see what we can do. Don’t have to call it a double date, just hanging out with friends and roommates.” He’d figure something out.
“Well, for the record, of you can convince Ethan, I'm down for it. I know Chris will be too.” Of that, Tris was certain. Especially if he asked in the right way. “Anyway,” he said, straightening up. “I should get going. I'll leave you to your work out.”
Blake smiled and nodded. Of course he could get Ethan to agree to a group time, which is what he would call it. “Alright, I’ll see you later,” he said as he moved to pick up the dumbell again.