2019-07-18 - Gym-Born Awkwardness

The gym is crowded on a Friday afternoon with plenty of people forgoing happy hour to get a lift in before going all out on the weekend. The music is playing loudly, some classic rock is currently bouncing the speakers. There are plenty of people in all of the areas. Easton is currently in the strength training area, working at a pull up bar. He has a weighted vest on, over a loose gray tank top. His legs are covered in a pair of black joggers, and he has on a pair of neon gym shoes. He drops off the bar, favoring his right foot when he lands and then takes a seat to wipe at his face with a towel.

There's only so long that you can stare at old newspapers, online or in print, before your eyes start to cross and you just need to do something. For Kevin, that's lift. He comes out of the locker room wearing a loose, long-sleeved shorts, running shoes, and a baggy t-shirt reading 'Fucks Given: 0' with the '0' as a digit on a mechanical counter -- one that has been broken, evidently by the hammer beneath. Nobody is changing that counter anymore. He collects a towel, draping it around the back of his neck, and then heads down the row of weight machines toward his chosen starting point -- lat press. On the way, he spots Easton, his eyes widening behind his glasses, "Oooh. Nice weight vest. I keep telling myself I should get one, but I never get around to it. I really should one of these days. Sucks having to do like a ton more pullups without one."

Taking a gulp from a bottle of water, Easton has to lower it to see who's talking. He lifts his other hand in greeting and says, "Oh hey. Kevin." He says the name as if he's still not quite sure he's got it right, even after their few run ins, like he's practicing it. "I'd offer to let you try it out, but it's pretty wet and gross. Maybe another time?" He is obviously deep into his workout from the amount of sweat darkening the underlying tanktop. He says "Anything I can do to reduce the number of pullups, I'm game."

Kevin jerks back a little from even the suggestion of an offer to try it out someone else's exercise gear, a vaguely horrified, vaguely disgusted expression on his features. Waving his hands in front of him, he adds, "Eew, no, no, no, ew, thanks, no." Settling down on the bench of his chosen machine, Kevin sets the weight, double-checks that it's locked in, drapes the towel over his lap, and gets started in. He rocks a quick set, then lets up with a grunt, "I'd say 'anything to cut down on the length of a workout,' but... yeah... sometimes the length of the workout's kinda the point, right?" Filter firmly removed, he reaches up for the bar, adds, "So you and Bennie? Bonding over bunnies?" And then he starts working on the next set.

Easton's face slowly twists into a smile and breaks into a grin as Kevin backs away horrified. "It's not like I offered to swap jock straps." Gee if Kevin was uncomfortable with the idea of a sweaty weight vest, just let that sink in. Easton finishes another set during Kevin's, one of the reasons they get along well at the gym, the understanding that you fit the chat time in between sets. He shrugs and says, "Yea, it depends. Sometimes a long workout is just what I need. Other times I just want to crank it out." The comment about Bennie causes him smile, "Yea, we went from killing bunnies to dating. You know how that is."

Kevin makes another disgusted face at the suggestion, "Eugh." Oddly, that doesn't wig him out as much. Probably because he's never once worn one in his life, so he doesn't know just how intimate they are. "Yeah. I don't know how that is. I never start dating people after killing bunnies with them." Another pause for a set, and then he chimes in, "Granted, I've only done that with the two of you, so..." There's a pause that doesn't involve a set of weights, and then he admits, "I think I missed out on a threesome the other night." Totally casual. It's good to have people to talk to that you barely know, who won't judge you... well, who will probably judge you, but you don't care as much if they do.

Easton smirks at the fact that Kevin's not as grossed out. He should be. He really should be. At the part about dating Easton shrugs and says, "Happens all the time to me." By which he means once. He nods and then gets the wrong idea. "Yea bro, I don't think Bennie's that into you and yer not really my type? I mean yea you're jacked.." He trails off as he it dawns on him from the face that Kevin is making that he wasn't talking about a threesome with Bennie and Easton after the Bunnie Killing. Which then begs the question, "Wait, what? A threesome with who?" Easton is totally the type to ask for details, even from total strangers, but especially from casual acquantences. Poor Alexander's already had to deal with Easton's lack of boundaries.

Kevin doesn't start up another set, waving off the dismissal of his chances of getting some post-bunny loving, "Yeah, I'm pretty exclusively for the away team. And not in a Star Trek way. But I don't know, she was totally interested in the gun show when we talked at the diner." There's a pause, and then he grins, "And by that I mean shocked that I wasn't still a twiggy nerd." Now he's a buff nerd! "You got nothing to worry about from me." The question causes him to clear his throat and look down, then scrub his face and neck with his towel, "So... I'm not sure that I read things right, so I don't want to say names. But Truth or Dare with two girls and a guy usually ends in a threesome, right?" That's what the Internet says, at least.

Easton doesn't seem bothered by the fact that he misunderstood the situation. He then quirks an eyebrow and says, "Wait, what?" He smirks at the thought of Bennie drooling over Kevin's arms. Look, he doesn't hold it against her. "Yea, that's fair." He doesn't sound concerned about it at least. But then Kevin is getting flustered by his question and laughs at the question back. He nods and says, "Yea, I'm pretty sure it's in the seventh grade by laws that truth or dare with anyone of your preferred team means you want to get down. Was there booze involved?"

"Oohhhhh yeah," Kevin confirms in response to Easton's question. The second one, about booze, not the first one about Bennie. There's even a little relief around the reporter's shoulders at the confirmation of his assumption. "And the first question was who I had a crush on back in high school. And there was a lot of talk about eating tarts and that sort of thing, so..." His brows furrow, then lift in half-hopeful question, "Yeah?" Look, he's buff now, but during his formative years, he was the twiggy nerd who couldn't even say 'threesome' without turning 18 shades of red.

Eating tarts Easton's brow furrows as he tries to parse exactly what that means. "You lost me at the tarts, but if you were drinking with adult women and they wanted to play truth of dare, I certainly hope you first opportunity was to ask them to take off their shirts and makeout. Because I'm gonna say you had at least two to one odds that, that was what they were lookin' for." He may still be thinking about Erin and Bennie kissing, but he doesn't bring that up right now. He just nods and says "Yeah." Oh, sweet buff nerd, Easton has so many debauched teenaged experiences it's a shame he can't just Glimmer those over.

Kevin leans forward on the lat-press machine, dropping his head into his hands, "Shit. Shit shit shit. Goddamn it dad." He groans in frustration, then leans back, moving along to the next machine and setting the weight perhaps just a little higher than he should, with perhaps just a little more force than he should. "Auuugh." He starts a set of leg presses, grunting out between reps, "No. Damn it. I only got a Dare while I was leaving. That was just for her to wear a Leia outfit in public." The weight clanks back down, and he winces as he stretches his legs, "Didn't specify which one."

Oh hey, a strip mall. Tyrone hadn't explored there, yet. And, what's in that strip mall? Oh look! A gym! Curious, Tyrone entered and peered about. The receptionist was absolutely not sure what to make of the guy in the wheelchair, because he couldn't POSSIBLY be looking to join the gym, so they flubbed the greeting. Of course, Tyrone's getting fairly used to this, waving off the person even as they stood to come try and assist them. "I'm just gonna check it out, see if I think I could get a workout in, here. Don't bother with the full tour, I'll be fine on my own." Of course, this made the person pause again, but Tyrone didn't wait for permission. He just started rolling in to the gym proper, looking around. ... and trying hard not to stare at any of the females, hard as that may be.

Tilting his head as Kevin drops his head into his hands and damns his father, Easton just asks, "What?" Not really to Kevin, more just a rhetorical confusion. He shakes his head at Kevin's nerdy, nerdy dare and just sighs, "Yea, that's ... embarrassing." For whom, it's not clear, but it's pretty safe to assume he means Kevin, not whoever has to dress up like Princess Leia. The black guy in a wheelchair gets a small upnod, but not much more at first as Easton finally takes off his weighted vest from before. He's about to reassure Kevin that he probably has another shot when he realizes he knows the other man. "Sergeant Grier?" Easton pushes himself up off the bench and approaches Tyrone, his hand out to clasp the other man's.

"Hey! That's not embarrassing," Kevin protests. "That's an awesome dare. I mean, considering I had to run. What's embarrassing is that I did have to run." He pushes out another set, and then shakes out his legs again, looking over to where Easton is greeting a guy in a wheelchair. "Huh." He pushes himself up, letting the other two greet each other as he wipes down the machine, eyeing the wheelchair sidelong. After a moment, he heads over too, "Hey. Kevin Walters." He offers out his right hand, "Pretty great gym for a strip mall in the armpit of Washington, yeah?"

Looking up, and then immediately straightening up when he sees Easton, Tyrone is /thiiiis/ close to saluting, his hand raising halfway there, before he sees Easton's hand. Almost sheepishly, Tyrone reaches for and clasps the proffered hand, smiling up at the man. "Captain Marshall," he responds. "I was wondering when I was gonna bump into you out here. We totally should have exchanged phone numbers instead of just addresses while I was rehabbing."
When Kevin approaches, Tyrone nods to him as well and shakes his hand. "Tyrone Grier. And ... I guess? I haven't really seen many strip mall gyms before, so I couldn't judge."

Easton's face gives Tyrone almost a warning look when it looks like he's about to be saluted. It's habit sure, and Easton knows all about how hard it is to break those ingrained habits, but he's set about it with purpose. He grasps the hand firmly and shakes it. "It's good to see you. We should. Are you local now? Or just passing through ... a strip mall gym. That's dumb fucking question. I assume, you're living in town now?" His manner is drastically different than a buttoned up officer. It's something Tyrone and other higher enlisted men might have gotten a glimpse of, but not actually seen.

That's not embarrassing

Easton's scrunched up face tilted to the side gives Kevin a look that questions if that is or is not true, silently. "So real talk. Do you own a Leia outift and how many times, roughly, have you asked a woman to dress up in said outfit?" He fills in Tyrone with a "Beefcake blew a triple." that doesn't really explain the situation, but at least starts to hint at it.

"They're way more common than you'd think," Kevin assures Tyrone, although Easton being addressed as 'Captain' causes a glance of surprise toward Easton, even as the expression fades toward understanding. "At least down in Southwest Washington. Not like the shiny fancy ones in Seattle, but..." he shrugs a little helplessly, then freezes at Easton's question, "No, I don't own one. I don't have the figure for the white outfit, and I'd be way too distracting in the bikini. But I did go to PAX with a girl in the gold bikini once." He looks back to Tyrone, "And come on... daring a woman to wear one of those outfits is totally cool for Truth or Dare." Beat pause, "That's not why I blew the triple." Promise.

"... blew ... the triple?" Tyrone asks, totally unaware of what context to take the phrase in. And they're talking about Star Wars bikinis? Tyrone's brow furrows and he looks VERY confused. "I'm local for RIGHT now. I got the VA to set me up with an apartment here for the time being. You said it was a good place to disappear in, so here I am," he responds to Easton. Kevin is regarded very speculatively, an eyebrow crooked high. "Why the fuck would you be playing truth or dare?" he asks, looking back to Easton as if he might provide a more reasonable answer than the dude talking about wearing bikinis. From Star Wars.

Easton notices the glance from Kevin and tries not to look annoyed about it for some reason. He then shakes his head and asks, "Yea, no. I meant do you own one for women to dress up in. Is this a standing request in your boudoir?" The look he gives Kevin, it's pretty clear that Easton is assuming yes. He has no idea what PAX is but the fact that Kevin's gone there with a girl in a Leia gold bikini is not a surprise. He agrees with Tyrone, "Agreed. Cool and Truth or Dare has long since sailed my friend. But." Here he turns to Tyrone and asks, "If you have two women ask you to play truth or date while drinking, what are the odds they are shooting for a threeway?" He poses the question both to answer why Kevin would be playing truth or dare, but also to see if he can confirm his earlier speculation.

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Kevin looks between Tyrone and Easton, blinking and shaking his head, "Of course I don't have a Leia outfit for girls to wear. Girls are all different sizes, man. Haven't you seen the damned conspiracy that is women's sizing? All just to get women to buy this brand and not that brand because they're a Size 2 in the this brand but a Size 6 in that brand when they're really a size 12 and that's totally fine to be." He... did not mean to make that quite the rant it became, by the surprised look on his face, and he just coughs and points over to Easton, "Yeah. That's why I would be playing truth or dare."

Tyrone blinks a little at the rationale behind truth or dare. Aaaand then Kevin rants about women's clothing. "... riiiight. Well, either they wanna menage et, or they want you to think they want that so they can rob your ass blind," he returns to Easton. "Either way, better make sure you way more sober than they is or you'll be sorry."

The rant causes Easton's head to tilt and have him shoot sideeyes at Tyrone as if asking what they've done to deserve this very specific lecture. He nods emphatically at the riiight, feeling that in every inch of his soul. But then Tyrone speaks and his eyes go a little wider. "Yea. I'd get my ass robbed." As if that were a plan. But no, he's just being honest about both his ability to stay sober and willingness to take the risk. "That's a good point. Were they weirdly in to you? I mean.. you look like that, so, might be hard to tell. But did they seem interested in what you were saying? Because then I'm gonna go with ... Grier here." He realizes that he's blanking on Tyrone's first name, and as much as he's trying to not revert to the habit of calling everyone by their last name, he has no choice.

In the wake of the rant, Kevin clears his throat and blushes, dabbing at his brows with his towels, "Uh, yeah. Just another example of how the corporations are pretty much everywhere." He blinks at the thought that they might have been trying to rob him, and carefully says, "I... don't think that's what was going on. But that's a scary though. No, no, I know where they both work. Looking back, they were kind of pushing me at the other one, so, I don't know... um..." He shakes his head, then beams, "So. Enough about me and my total failure in blowing a triple."

"... yeah. Yup. Enough about that," Tyrone agrees, shaking his head. "ANYWAY. How's it going, Marshall?" Because ... why would they NOT just call each other by their last names? If they haven't got nicknames, that's usually what flys. "How are you adjusting back to civvy life?" he asks.

Magnolia has been here the whole time. Seriously. She was sitting in the back of the weight-lifting area with her wireless earbuds in, watching Netflix on her phone, and eating-- okay, it isn't a can of Pringles, she's not that bad, but it is-- a rice krispy treat. She looks up as some others glance toward Kevin's direction, and when she recognizes the Nerd and his bartending friend, the PI almost groans. She slumps deeper in her chair, half-wondering if she should just try to melt into it. But then she drags herself upright, and starts to pad toward the group; she's in yoga pants and socks and her t-shirt brazenly announces 'I CAN'T ADULT TODAY'. "Excuse me," she says to Easton, and then she beams. "Hi. Is this man bothering you?" And she thumbs toward Kevin. Tyrone does get a quick smile that almost apologizes ahead of time.

Easton gives Tyrone a nod of agreement on the subject change. He shrugs off the first question from Tyrone, with a breezy, "Can't complain." but the second gets draws a little more out. His head goes back and forth with a slight turn up of his top lip. "Eh." He almost lets it go at that with a look at Kevin. One that maybe reads that he would rather talk about this elsewhere? Or something. But then he just shrugs and says, "I suck at it." It's not a complaint more of an objective evaluation of his performance thus far in civilian life. "How bout you? "

Magnolia's approach is caught out of the corner of his eye and he looks between her and Kevin with a smirk. "No. We were just trading workout tips. Obviously he's the guy to talk to."

Kevin starts to slip back from the conversation between Easton and Tyrone, high school instincts coming back to the forefront. But then there's Magnolia pinning him down with her thumbing and her calling him out. "Hey!" He pauses a moment, then considers, "I mean... yeah, probably." And then he shrugs to the two vets, "Sorry. And I'm pretty sure that everyone sucks at civilian life, for what it's worth." The smirk causes him to laugh readily and a little bashfully, "I had a lot of help in school, set me on the right path. You seem to be doing fine."

Magnolia's approach brings another quirk of Tyrone's eyebrow. "Nah, we're good," he responds to her. As Easton answers and then returns the question, Tyrone laughs. "I can't stop calling everybody 'sir' or 'ma'am.' And I'm still waking up way earlier than I need to. Even after all those weeks in the hospital. It's crazy," he says. Then, he remembers something, and reaches underneath him into a little fanny pack that's almost invisible under his wheelchair. "Hey, before I forget, lemme get your number. Took me like a week and a half to bump into you. We should get together and catch up. Plus, there's a bunch I wanna ask you," he says.
Kevin's comment about everybody sucking at civilian life draws a slight from from Tyrone and he shakes his head, clearly disagreeing. "If you haven't served, you wouldn't know," he responds. Because Marines.

A low chuckle turns into a full on laugh as Tyrone nails much of what he keeps finding himself doing. They've been out about the same amount of time so it makes sense but he still gets a kick out of hearing someone else describe it. "Exactly. I called my girlfriend ma'am." He leaves it at that but shakes his head and exhales. He gives his number and says, "Text me. Anytime." He gets a bit more serious look on his face, again glancing at Kevin and Magnolia before stressing, "You need anything Sergeant, you text me." The tone is very much an order, it's the voice and clarity of Easton speaking as an officer.
At Tyrone's admonition of Kevin, he gives a half-shrug of not really disagreeing. Though he does diplomatically say, "But, I appreciate the sentiment." He gives a smile to Kevin with a nod, hopefully clearly communicating no harm, no foul but who knows. He then pulls out his phone and checks a text.
"Oh.." He hehs and types something back before saying, "I gotta go actually. But good seeing you all." He says that to Kevin and Magnolia before slapping Tyrone on the shoulder and reiterating. "I mean it." And with that he grabs his bag and heads for home.

Oh look, she shows up and there goes Easton. Magnolia narrows her eyes though there is a twitch of her smile for the bartender. "Good seeing you, Easton. Tell your girlfriend she's pretty for me." She has no idea who Easton's girlfriend is-- YET-- but soon enough. For now, the tiny blonde turns toward Kevin and narrows her eyes at him. "Shouldn't you be working? What are you doing here?" She's giving Kevin a hard time, but it appears in good nature. Then she pivots slightly to Tyrone and she meets him with a wide, beaming, knock-you-on-the-ground kind of smile. "Hi." She offers out her small hand. "I'm Magnolia. Did I overhear you right and you served with Easton?"

Kevin shrugs bashfully at Tyrone, especially when Easton backs him up so politely, "Yeah, sorry. I'm sure you're right." Even Kevin can be chastened occasionally. Not for long, however, because he looks over to Magnolia and asks, "Oh? You remember Bennie? Were you too close in school?" Magnolia's shit-flipping causes him to throw up his hands, turning a tight circle before he points a finger at her, "Look, I'm going to need like... a new prescription after the amount of time I've spent staring at a screen for you. Oh, right, Magnolia Jones," he gestures to her, "Tyrone, uh... Grier, right?"

Well, lucky for Tyrone, his wheelchair has cambered wheels for stability, so Magnolia's smile only manages to make him blink a little and then grimace slightly as he fights the urge to suddenly check her out. Instead, he reaches for her hand and shakes it, nodding. "Tyrone. And yes, ma'am, we were stationed out of the same FOB on my first tour. Different units, but we saw each other enough. Most of us looked up to him, he really knew his sh-- er ... stuff," he says, censoring himself now that a lady was present. He looks between Magnolia and Kevin a couple times, and rocks his chair back a little. "If you guys have someplace better to be, don't let me stop you. I was just checking the gym out."

It's okay, Tyrone. As a single mom, Magnolia will take every compliment she can get. Even fighting the urge is enough to get the little blonde to brighten to near incandescence. Then that brightness dims as she glowers at Kevin. "Well, I would have you print everything, but then you'll tell me that printers actually send everything they print to the government via their secure WiFi." It's a scathing remark before she shakes her head, and smiles back to Tyrone. "I have nowhere to be. My sitter is still on for anohter two hours." Then she tucks her hands at her low back, nodding slightly. "He's a good guy."

Kevin shakes his head at Tyrone's offer to move on, "Oh, I just started working out. I need to at least another thirty-forty minutes." In fact, he moves over to the chin-up bar that Easton recently left, only to be hit by Magnolia's glower. He rolls his eyes at her suggestion, "Oh come on. The government doesn't tap printers. At least not in a small-town newspaper. That's just ridiculous." He hops up, grasping the bar, and shifts his hands out to get a better grip, "It's the printer companies that do that. So that they can sell your data to other companies. But I'm working on it, Mags. Don't worry."

When Magnolia glows, Tyrone gives her a brief smile-nod. And, as soon as she turns her attention to Kevin, he checks her out. Not bad, for being only a little bit taller than him in his chair. But, then she's espousing conspiracy theories and Tyrone just shakes his head. "People are way more afraid of the government than they should be. If we were so good at spying on people, our military intel wouldn't be so unreliable," Tyrone offers.

"Oh. This is just a Kevin Special." Magnolia casts Kevin a warm little look with a smirk before she glances back to Tyrone. If she knows he's checked her out, she's pretty casual about it. She shakes her head at Kevin's correction, and then she hums with bits of laughter. "You're adorable," she says to Kevin, but it definitely is one of those compliments that could also be construed as not a compliment. With a smile, she looks back to Tyrone. "What brings you to Gray Harbor?" She squints at him, as if trying to recognize him. "You from here?"

Kevin arches an eyebrow at Tyrone, "I mean, that assumes that the government wants to keep service-people alive." There's a little question to his words, but he shakes it off, scowling over at Magnolia's 'Kevin Special,' "Hey, it's not like I'm some lone gunman, there's solid evidence behind a lot of this stuff." Okay, so it's not really solid. And he clearly takes the compliment as a mixed message, frowning all the deeper and looking back to the pull-up bar before he starts a long set.

"... riiiight," Tyrone responds to Kevin's doubt over the government's desire to keep people alive, nodding ever so slightly. He then takes in a breath of air and stops arguing, turning back to answer Magnolia's question. "No, I'm not from here. Just looking for a place to settle down. Easton encouraged me to try here, so here I am," he answers. At least, it answers the surface question, anyway.

Hmm. Magnolia narrows her eyes thoughtfully at Tyrone. It's almost like she's trying to spot it-- that little shimmer. Then she glances over her shoulder toward Kevin again with a bit of a snort. "Evidence. Cm'on, Kay, you're a investigative reporter and you're into conspiracy theories." She shakes her head with almost disappointment before she's looking back to Tyrone. "Well, welcome." She smiles a bit. "If you need anything, let me know. I know this place like the back of both my hands."

Kevin drops down from the bar at the end of his set of pull-ups, shaking his arms out, "Evidence. Most of it's circumstantial, honestly, but..." he shrugs, "Most people would rather not know. Besides, you've seen enough gumming shoes, right, Magnolia? You know the 1% think that they play by other rules." Clearing his throat, he pushes his glasses up his nose, "Sorry. Yeah. Happy to help out, Tyrone." He gestures between himself and Magnolia, "We both grew up here." There's a beat pause and then he looks over to Magnolia, "Uh... wouldn't you know both your hands worse than just whichever one you know best?"

Tyrone just looks confused by their conversation about conspiracies and ... reporting? Part of being a Marine is not asking too many questions, and Tyrone is definitely not interested in conspiracies and questioning his government. Nodding politely to Magnolia, then to Kevin, he says, "Yeah. Sure. Thanks." And then giving a little wave, he backs away and turns his chair around, obviously a little dubious about the pair.

"Whatever," is all Magnolia says to Kevin before she tucks an AirBud back in her ear. "Just don't forget... we're getting dinner, at some point." Then she starts to step away from him with a little saunter in her steps. She does smile and wave to Tyrone as she begins to depart. "Nice meeting you, Tyrone."

Kevin hops back up to the bar, shifting his hands to start another set of pull-ups, "See you, Tyrone." One, two, three... and then he pauses at the bottom of a pull-up, "Wait, we are? I totally forgot." He pauses, dropping his head back between his arms to look after Magnolia, "Yup, see you 'round, Ms. Jones." His hands shift on the bar, and then he pauses, watching Magnolia saunter away thoughtfully before he shifts one last time and starts in on pull-ups again.