The air is filled with the scent of sweat; the combined efforts of the gathered devotees, the tang of oil and the sounds of the clank-clank of steel on steel and the beat of the rhythmical music in the background.
I've been watching you for a month now; I'm on a treadmill running; you, at a free weight stand doing reps. Your face is intent on the series; your brow beaded with sweat, and your jaw clenched.
I watch as you finish your set, and stand, pumped, in front of the mirror, checking your symmetry, admiring the work and devotion you have put in on your form. Broad shoulders, narrow hips. Rock solid glutes, diamond calves. You raise your arms and your biceps peak, vascular and cut.
I have asked around; you've been working out here for ten years and you have a reputation as being narrow minded, not socialising with anyone else. Oh, you have the occasional partner, who spots you for the first week or so when you start working with heavier weights. But they come and go, you remain, getting bigger, harder, more intense.
I watch as you check yourself out in the mirror, and briefly, just briefly, your eyes catch mine. It's the first time.. I usually look away, then leave before the stirring in my loins gets too obvious to hide. But not this time. I see your eyes, you see mine, and you know.
I quickly shut off the program and hurry to the changing room, stripping off and jumping into the showers, trying to control my desire, my lust for your body.
After five minutes I turn to leave the showers and you are there, in front of me. Shorter than me, I find myself looking down into your blue eyes, and I see the lust there too.