Gymnastics | Suegiku ONESHOT

Gymnastics

Tecchou was no stranger to finding entertainment in the repetitive and the mundane. He had a habit of zoning out quite often, not minding the subject of his attention all that much.

During classes as a teenager and later at work as an adult– it was a superpower that came in handy in some situations and as a hindrance in many others.

The one thing he'd never neglect to watch, however, was the beauty that was Jouno when they were in their element. Soaring through the air with the aid of a trampoline, making a million turns in mid-air (or well, two or three, but still it was impressive) and folding their body into impossible angles that Tecchou could already feel his muscles complaining about just thinking about replicating them.

Tecchou wasn't rigid , but compared to Jouno he was an absolute plank. He supposed that was the difference in their fields at play– women's gymnastics focussed more on the graceful flexibility of things while the male variant leaned more into strength.

Why Jouno was participating in female gymnastics was a question that had crossed Tecchou's mind once or twice, but he never dared ask– it was clear Jouno felt right at home where they were, and he didn't want to come across as judgemental.

Tecchou just wished their schedules would align more than once a week. Usually they practised separately, but on Saturdays Tecchou had every opportunity to stare– ahem, observe Jouno. It wasn't as if he was alone in this endeavour– many of his... friends?– Tecchou wasn't quite sure if he could call them friends if they had hardly spoken– took that opportunity to gawk at the female gymnasts.

He used to scoff at their distraction. Now he was inclined to say he understood the feeling they must have when looking at those women. The hypocrisy tasted bitter on his tongue.

But he swears he wasn't doing it for the sake of ogling– no, he was genuinely impressed by the skill and the grace Jouno possessed... unlike those men who seemed to only have interest in the nature of the uniforms they wore.

It was different, yet it still somewhat felt the same.

He felt slightly disgusting, but he couldn't look away. Not when it was so mesmerising. His mother had always told him not to look at women that way– did the same thing apply to whatever Jouno was?

What even was Jouno? Tecchou wasn't quite sure– he had never asked. In all that time where he had watched them it had never occurred to him to simply... ask.

Stupid. Very stupid. But he was nervous– a weird feeling for someone as blunt and direct as him.

Now here he stood again, one step away from the bench with his water bottle on top of it, staring forward without intent to practise for himself when Jouno emerged from the changing room. Tecchou had memorised their routine by now– they'd usually start on the floor with warmups, before relocating to the trampoline.

And in the meantime Tecchou would do stretches and... not much else. The one time he had grabbed onto the rings he had made quite the nasty fall when his arm buckled from under him due to a lack of practice and concentration. Hitting the mat right on the edge and collapsing with a loud thud, he had been dazed for a couple seconds before very slowly sitting upright, the world spinning around him.

Surrounded by a couple of worried faces but mostly half-interested glances being shot his way, he had quickly assured them he was alright, but over the shoulders of these hunched-over people familiar white hair had passed and suddenly all the strain had evaporated. The sound of laughter– be it mocking or amused, Tecchou couldn't tell– had pulled him straight from the faint worry he felt about hitting his head.