Dead Before Dawn: The Vampire Curse

Chapter 16 - Advantages and Drawbacks

Max loved his family, they were wonderfully supportive and he had some long, in depth conversations with all of them, but by the end of the second day he was going stir crazy. Hence he asked his dad if he could grab a couple of off hours at the sports hall where his father coached the gymnastics team.

Given his current celebrity status and the fact he wasn't totally sure of himself, he wasn't about to go when it was actually open.

Thankfully his dad totally understood and rang the hall owner to get the okay. It wasn't that big a town and his dad was one of the mainstays of the community, so it didn't take long.

Hence Max found himself staring at all the equipment, having just stepped out of the changing rooms. It had been used that day for a meet and so all the gymnastics stuff was still up, which was something of a plus; no setup necessary. When Max needed to work out some energy he always fell back on the thing he had loved most in the world before acting. He wouldn't be getting any marks in the 16s ever again, but he still knew his way around the apparatus.

"You know," Gian said, from where his lover was standing behind him, "to exercise one must approach the equipment."

"Shut up," he replied and swiped playfully at Gian's arm.

He was well aware he had been standing there for five minutes just looking, but he was strangely nervous. He hadn't tried anything like this since the whole vampire thing had started and he was irrationally worried about it. Why, he had no idea, that was the irrational part.

Gian nudged him in the back and he finally walked towards the floor area. The first thing he needed to do was warm up, so he sat down and began to stretch out. The familiar burn as he convinced his body to move into extended shapes made him smile. It was just like it had always been vampire or no vampire.

He'd been limbering up for some time when he realised Gian was still standing off to the side. Gian had never been a professional gymnast, but there was plenty of things he could do as well.

"Not joining me?" Max asked, shifting into almost a full split and carefully leaning forward.

"I was simply enjoying the view," Gian replied with a very not innocent smile.

"So it's like that is it?" Max said and grinned, before flattening himself forward onto the mat.

"I believe it may be," Gian replied and made Max laugh.

"No making out on the equipment, I promised," he said between chuckles.

"Ah, such are the hardships we must bear," Gain said with a very dramatic sigh.

It was just what Max needed as all the remaining tension flowed out of him.

"Get over here and start stretching so I have something to ogle too," he said.

Gian laughed, but did as he was asked.

In the end Max didn't dare ogle too much, because otherwise the promise to his dad would have gone right out the window.

Tumbling had always been one of his favourite parts of gymnastics, so he worked out quite a lot of energy having some fun. It wasn't like he could sneak a triple twist in there these days, but bouncing across the floor was exhilarating. It made his muscles ache and his chest heave and it was a wonderfully human feeling. He only stopped when he landed on his arse as he missed putting his feet down properly.

When he looked around to see if Gian had seen his mess up he found his friend was doing pull-ups on the high bar, which made him laugh.

"That's for swinging," he said, wandering over.