Kyle Morrison looked over the strange business card once again as he waited in the empty lobby. He'd only been sitting there for a few minutes, but something about the place made him uneasy. The lobby was barely furnished, and the grin the receptionist had given him when he arrived lingered in his mind. Kyle had never even heard of SymbiCo, nor did he have any idea what they did. He'd been approached at the gym by a buff guy he'd never seen before that day. The man, who introduced himself only as Reiner, had been watching him throughout his workout. Kyle had initially thought he was about to hit on him. It was something that happened far too often at the gym, where all of the gay guys in the area seemed to prowl. To his surprise, Reiner only wanted to hand him a business card, telling him that he should make an appointment to try some new 'athletic wear' that the company had been working on.
Looking into SymbiCo had yielded very few results, but, to Kyle's surprise, it appeared to be a legitimate company. The even bigger surprise was the massive facility that Kyle found himself pulling up to for his appointment. The large gray building was up a hill in the middle of nowhere, and looked more like a seedy government laboratory from some sci-fi film, rather than a place that made clothing.
After a few minutes of letting his mind wander, Kyle looked up to notice Reiner approaching him. Even from a distance, the man had a strange, almost intimidating aura about him. He was a bit taller than Kyle, and well-built. His arm muscles rippled as he held out his hand to greet Kyle, who had just barely stood up from his seat. Kyle brushed a few strands of his light brown hair from in front of his eyes, doing his best to keep contact with Reiner's icy blue gaze. Reiner's short blond hair was kept high and tight, complimenting his strong jaw, something Kyle noticed as he smiled at him. This man could have been former military for all Kyle knew.
"I'm glad you came. I think you'll find our equipment very interesting," Reiner got straight to the point as he broke from the handshake and waved for Kyle to follow him down a corridor.
"Yeah, I was actually wondering what kind of equipment you make. This place is a lot bigger than I expected."
"Oh, we do athletic gear, biking equipment, and miscellaneous rubber products."
The last part sounded a bit odd to Kyle, but he decided to stay quiet as he and Reiner entered the elevator. He looked at the keypad Kyle used. They were heading down to B3. He felt himself gulp, wishing he knew more about this company and why they needed a facility that had multiple basement levels, in addition to the several that were above ground.
"I should apologize, actually," Reiner glanced over, breaking the silence.
"Oh?"
"I won't be having you try a full outfit after all. We're going to be checking out an experimental new set of gloves instead. It's pretty revolutionary, so I'm pretty excited still."
"Revolutionary? How so?" Kyle tried not to show his skepticism as he followed Reiner from the elevator, and down another corridor.
Kyle never received an answer, and decided to drop the question as he was lead to a large room behind a heavy door. The room itself was empty, save for a small table with a briefcase on it, and a couple of chairs to its side. The hardwood floor looked like it had been freshly waxed, and the white walls practically glowed beneath the bright overhead lights.
"Go ahead and sit," Reiner said.
"Quite a place, isn't it?" Kyle looked around, unable to shake the feeling that he was being watched from every angle.
"Symbi does a lot of research in this facility. We do a lot more than make gear. We're working on some pretty advanced nano-technology that is being deployed to people all over the world. You'll see why these gloves are a pretty big deal. I think you'll like them."
"I'm just so surprised that I'd never heard of this place."
"We like to keep things hush, but when I saw you, I knew you were perfect for this."
"How so?" Kyle squinted, trying to read Reiner's face.
"A lot of our stuff is still in the initial testing phases, so we try to find fit, healthy guys to try it out. I could tell that you hit the gym a lot, and I assume you take pretty good care of your body. That cuts out a lot of work for us," Reiner laughed.
"I guess that makes sense."
"Okay, so how about we get to it?" Reiner opened the briefcase that was sitting on the table and slid it over to Kyle.
Inside the case was a single pair of rubber gloves, and a pair of rubber toed socks. Nothing about their design looked athletic or revolutionary to Kyle. He ran his hands over the gloves, feeling their thin material. If there was something spectacular about all of this, he was missing it.
"Probably not what you were expecting, eh?" Reiner smirked, as if reading his mind.
"Not really, but I guess I didn't really know what I expected to be trying on. If you don't mind me asking, what makes them revolutionary?"
"Like I said before, it's brand new nano-tech. You've never worn anything as comfortable and flawless as this material right here. Trust me. First, I'll have you try on the feet. You can just slide your shoes and socks off for right now.
"Um, okay," Kyle kicked off his footwear, stuffing his socks into his shoes. He rolled up his jeans a bit, making it easier for him to put on the 'feet', as Reiner had called them.
Slowly, Kyle slid his left foot into the rubber. He was taken aback by how easily it went on, and how well it fit him. The material itself felt thin, but not flimsy, and it felt as though the rubber was pushing against his skin like a massage. The feeling against his foot was slick, almost wet. Each toe fit perfectly into place, and as Kyle rubbed the foot, he felt it seal to him tightly. He could feel every slight sensation of his hand touching his foot, as though he was wearing nothing at all. In fact, his sense of touch felt heightened. Every motion tickled him. Even resting the rubber foot against the floor felt nice.
Eagerly, Kyle grabbed for the other foot, slipping it on with the same ease as he had with the first one. He wondered if he should have waited for Reiner to prompt him. He looked down to the rubber feet, tapping them slightly against the floor before rubbing them together. This shouldn't have felt so good, but the experience was indescribable.