It was interesting to see his shift from a different point of view.

Ren had always been inside him, but rarely active during the times he was awake. Now that his cat had decided to spend some time with Ammo, it was suddenly much more attentive to what was going on around its host.

He wasn't really sure how his cat had jumped ship in the first place, but whenever they tried to swap him back by holding hands, Ren would swat at him mentally, sitting at the faint barrier between their two minds, clearly not interested in returning yet.

"You know, his shift already loves me. I might as well steal your boy, Grimmy," Ammo said over the speaker phone.

Ian chuckled as he washed the dishes, but when he looked back at Grim, who was finishing up cooking, he struggled to read his expression.

He knew that Ammo was just poking fun at them, and honestly, he was glad to hear it. He'd stayed with them for the past few days, sleeping on the couch and generally just being out of it between bouts of sobbing and barely-eating.

Yesterday, however, he'd woken up with a cautious smile on his face and asked Grim if it would be okay if he went home for a little while.

Of course, he didn't have to ask Grim anything. They had no relation besides being friends who met online, but at the same time, Ian figured that the question hadn't been asked so much for Grim, but for himself.

The stipulation Grim had asked him for when he agreed was that he call them after being home for a day or so.

This was that call.

"We're going to go workout in about an hour, after we eat," Grim reminded him, his voice a little darker than normal, but still clearly inviting.

In fact, they'd already agreed to meet up to go work out together, so the reminder was valid.

"Grumpy already, bud? He hasn't even seen me in workout clothes. He might switch sides yet," Ammo continued, clearly enjoying poking fun at Grim.

He could admit that Ammo was a beautiful person, but he'd never outright tease Grim about him looking at someone else. His heart wouldn't be able to take it if the man got mad at him for pushing his buttons, even if he knew that Grim didn't like him that way.

In fact, he got so lost in his thoughts that when he felt an arm slip around his waist, he didn't even notice. Until, that is, words accompanied the action.

"You better not be thinking about someone else's dick between your legs," Grim growled as he bit his ear hard enough to make Ian yelp!

Ian quickly spun around as Grim stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I-I would never!" Ian stuttered, his face burning even though he doubted Ammo had heard what Grim had whispered in his ear.

"Are you traumatizing my baby?" Ammo asked, clearly having not heard the traumatizing words, but figuring things out all the same.

Ian couldn't help but grin at their antics, but his smile was immediately wiped from his face by Grim's lips pressing against his own.

"Hungry little fucker, smiling and thinking about someone else when your husband is standing right in front of you."

That time he did speak loud enough for Ammo to hear, but the guy just laughed off his words as they heard the sound of keys jingling and a door sliding closed.

Ian stood frozen in place as Grim leaned away a moment later, then walked away to go finish getting ready.

"Ian? Ian, babe, you okay?" Ammo asked through the phone Grim had left on the opposite counter.

Ian managed to get his mouth to open and close a few times in response, but the fish gesture did nothing to make actual words happen. In fact, by the time Grim was back and helping him slide his own tennis shoes on, Ian was still struggling to English.

"We'll meet you at the gym in a bit," Grim eventually said as he finished tying Ian's shoes, then stood up to grab his phone.

The call was ended before Ammo could respond, and somehow, finally, the ending chime managed to snap Ian out of his kiss-induced coma... only for Grim to reach over and promptly mess up his hair between an inch of its poor life!

"Wh-what are you doing?" he questioned as he lifted his hands to try and fend off Grim's assault!

"You're going to the gym, not a fashion show," Grim grumbled as he looked over Ian's black tennis shoes, black gym shorts, and maroon tank top.

He seemed to notice something off, though, because he quickly leaned forward again, only to press his lips to Ian's earlobe and lick it a few times before nonchalantly leaning away.

"My bad, you were bleeding a little."

Figuring that he wouldn't get a response right away, since Ian was right back to sputtering silently in embarrassed terror, Grim simply fed him a quick dinner right there in the kitchen, then took his hand and, after slipping his phone into his pocket and picking up their shared gym bag, tugged him out of the house.

The car ride was quiet, allowing Ian to thaw from his previously-frozen state so that by the time they pulled up to the gym, he was smiling, excited for the chance to watch Grim exercise.

I really am a simp.

Well, he would be if he had any actual money or items to offer the man he was obsessed with.

All I've got is myself.

And he knew that wouldn't be enough for someone like Grim.

Just enjoy things while you can.

"Hey cutie," Ammo said as he walked up after they entered the building, snapping Ian out of his thoughts.

Ah, he's wearing a hat.

A red and black one, to be exact... to hide the cat ears his feline seemingly refused to retract.

"Decided to leave Grim for someone sexier yet?" he asked as he reached out a hand for a quick shake.

They had moved beyond such pleasantries rather quickly, though. The contact was really to see if his cat was ready to come back home. Unfortunately, it swatted at him again, clearly declining to return.

Stubborn thing.

He paused for a moment as they were brought into the back training room he'd seen Grim working in the first time he'd met him.

It was empty now, and the lights had been turned off.

Grim quickly remedied the light problem as he walked over and flipped a switch, but that's when Ian looked around and realized something.

There's almost no equipment in here...

Were they not going to use a treadmill or weight bench?

"We're going to focus on stretching today," Grim said, making Ian and Ammo look at each other, then back at Grim.

Stretching?

He had the hottest guy on the planet willing to help him learn how to work out, and he wanted to spend their entire first session together stretching?

"Need to learn how to relax your muscles or you won't be able to handle me in bed, love," Grim said as he got down into a simple-enough looking pose.

Ian immediately tried to mirror what he was doing, with Ammo kneeling down a few moments later, shaking his head silently.

Evidently, neither of them were able to figure out how to do the stretch correctly, because soon Grim was back on his feet and walking over to first Ammo, to correct his stance, then to Ian, to half-grope and half-help him do it correctly without hurting himself.

He was living a dream, but was too self-conscious to enjoy it!

"We do push ups now, right?" Ammo asked once Grim finally returned to matching their stance in front of them.

"No, this is called a plank. We aren't doing the full version today, though. I just want to work out your muscles a bit," Grim said, making Ian frown.

Then they were just doing this for a while?

He didn't understand how it would work out their muscles, but after only a minute, he was beginning to feel them begin to ache a bit.

We aren't even doing push ups, why am I starting to hurt?

"Feel it?" Grim asked as Ian looked to his right.

Ammo was surprisingly shaking a bit.

"Okay, relax on your bellies," Grim said, making them both lower themselves the rest of the way to the ground with matching sighs of relief.

Okay, I can feel it.

Grim gave them a minute to rest before having them do several more rounds of the stretch. He then moved into another position after bringing over a mat for each of them and himself.

"Kneel down with one knee on the mat and slowly lean forward," he said, showing them how to do the new stretch again.

Ian tried to copy him, but he found that his balance was surprisingly iffy, while Ammo's was perfect.

Oh right, he still has Ren.

He paused his thoughts for a moment as he focused on the stretch. then realized something.

If Grim gave me this collar for Ren, and Ren is with Ammo...

He reached up towards the collar while unintentionally furrowing his brow.

Should I... give the collar to Ammo?

Ian looked up towards Grim, curious what he would think, but immediately felt his body stiffen as he rechecked his posture and pose!

If looks could kill!

He checked over what he was doing two more times before looking back up, his expression likely one similar to that of a lost puppy. He hadn't meant to not pay attention!

Grim still looked livid...

In fact, the man had stood up and was just starting to stalk towards him when the door behind him and to his left suddenly opened, drawing all their attention in that direction.

A man seemingly in his mid twenties walked in, but that wasn't what really grabbed Ian's attention.

That's... a lot of muscle.

They fit well with the man's build and height, but... looking back at his love, there was no comparison.

My man is definitely more beautiful.

"I didn't see your name on the training list," the man said as he walked over, stopping besides Grim before looking at him and Ammo.

His brow furrowed beneath his brown bangs and his lips pursed slightly, as if trying to figure out what kind of secret situation was actually going on.

"They're friends, Harrison. We're just doing stretches," Grim said simply, but with more than enough inflection to his voice to warn the other off, too.

Except, the man just shrugged off his words and walked forward until he was standing in front of Ammo, who was now staring up at him.

Ian could tell that his cat's hackles were likely raised, too, just by judging the expression on the man's face.

The new guy didn't seem to like the look he was getting in return, either, because he opened his mouth to say something, but before words could exit, his expression abruptly changed to one of confused surprise.

"Oh, hey Bubba," Ian said as he finally broke his stretching pose to scoot closer and greet the sweet capybara.

It looked quite entertaining still dressed in Ammo's shirt and gym shorts, and add the baseball cap to it? It could pass as a baseball team mascot with ease.

The deadpan stare would be the only thing that wouldn't quite match the mascot image.

"What... the hell is this thing?" the guy eventually muttered as he reached forward and poked Bubba on the nose... yet got zero response as the adorable creature simply stared up at him.

Ian chuckled quietly and reached over to pat Bubba on the back as he looked up at Harrison.

"He's a capybara," he said happily as Bubba finally began to move and slowly meandered his way into Ian's arms for some attention.

He was forceful, but not aggressively-so. He just simply used his seventy or so pounds to push himself against Ian's chest until he was settled comfortably in his lap. Ian happily pet Bubba as Grim stepped back into the situation, putting himself standing right next to Ian's feet as he glared up at the other man.

"What do you want? We were busy," he growled, clearly no longer interested in waiting for the other guy to get to his point in being there.

Harrison glanced at Ian, then right back to Bubba before reaching toward him as he said "I see one..."

Ian eyed the man's hand, unsure of what he was talking about, but not being one for confrontation when there wasn't a threat, he nervously held Bubba a little closer and kept his mouth shut.

Except, when Harrison gently grabbed Bubba's chin and tilted the large rodent's head up so that he could see its neck, Ian felt his feline jump back into his own body and promptly take control of him... and swat at the man's hand with his own slightly-clawed one! A warning hiss was added for good measure, too.

Harrison reacted right before the swipe could land, moving his own hand out of the way in a blur that spoke of a possible shift beneath his own skin.

"This is the part where you get the hell out," Grim said as he moved directly between them, forcing Harrison to stand up from the kneeling position he'd taken to better interact with Bubba, and take a step back... or risk getting kicked.

The other guy seemed angry, at first, but he quickly calmed himself down and grinned as he looked past Grim briefly, before returning his attention to his confronter.

"Of course, I was just curious," the man said as he raised a hand dismissively, then turned and walked back to the door.

Before he stepped out, however, he glanced back at them.

"See you next time."

Ian blinked as the man left, then looked down at Bubba as he simply stared up at him, likely wondering why the petting had stopped.

Clearly, neither of them were interested in a next time.