Opossum Three

"I-I fell asleep with the call still on," Ian whispered sleepily as he pushed the end call button on his phone and heard the little beep sound confirm that it had disconnected a moment later.

Surprised he didn't turn it off, himself.

They both might have just fallen asleep at the same time and forgotten.

The thought of pretending to sleep next to him while hearing his breathing over the phone made Ian's face turn bright red. He'd missed a golden opportunity!

Darn it, snap out of it. You're not in high school anymore.

He couldn't get his humming heart to understand that, though.

Thankfully, his phone alarm began to go off right at that moment, startling him and making him hurry to his feet! Ten minutes later he was dressed and out the door, a baseball cap covering his messy hair and two pieces of plain white bread between his teeth.

Work was about a mile away, but thankfully it wasn't too hot out so the run was reasonable. He ended up clocking in ten minutes early, panting quietly as he finished off his meager breakfast.

He got to work as soon as he was done, immersing himself in lifting and stacking box after box. Everyone else had earbuds in, so thankfully they didn't bother him... except for the one that normally did.

His stomach immediately twisted at the sound of the man's familiar footsteps as he approached, then got way too close, forcing him to turn around or likely get groped again.

Well, turning hadn't saved him from unwanted physical contact this time. Peter had his hand on his waist before his mouth even opened to make things worse.

"You know I'll give you a ride to work so you don't have to walk everyday, babe."

He knew he would, but that ride would cost him a ride.

Doing his best not to glare down at the slightly shorter, younger man, Ian forced a polite smile, since Peter was his boss's son, and politely declined for the fiftieth time since they'd met.

"Thank you for the offer, but I enjoy the walk."

He'd been a fool before and accepted some attention from the man in return for getting on his knees, but things never progressed after that one bit of messing around, no matter how many times the guy tried to get him naked.

He'd been in a very dark mental state at the time and had needed some sort of proof that at least someone would want him, so he'd used his mouth to pleasure the man in return for a few pats to the head and a couple good boys.

The day after that had happened, however, he'd come across the commercial for Infinity with Grim in it, and the rest, he wished, was history. Yet Peter refused to forget their little ten minute session in the janitor's closet six months ago.

Stepping back just enough for the man's hand to fall from his waist, Ian looked toward the pallet of stuff he was trying to load, then back to Peter.

"I apologize but I'm really busy right now. I need to get back to work."

He was just turning back to start stacking again when he felt one of Peter's fingers slip into one of his belt loops and tug lightly.

"I'm afraid dad's had to let go of a few people who aren't keeping up with the numbers we need, but I managed to argue that you're doing as much as you can and really need to keep this job, but he did say that he'd have to decrease your wage a bit..."

Ian felt his face drain of color as he slowly set down the package he'd been about to load. He couldn't make himself turn around again, but it was clear that Peter didn't expect him to.

The guy was already patting his shoulder falsely-apologetically.

"I got you, babe. Just gotta work a bit harder for my dad, okay?" he said before finally walking away.

Not keeping up with the numbers...?

He was the fastest person they had and also the only one with perfect attendance!

With a shaking hand, he took his old phone out of his back pocket and turned the screen on, then opened his banking app. Today was payday, and as he pulled up his account, he immediately saw a number that made his stomach drop into his feet.

In seconds he did the math, then nearly fell over as he was forced to use the shelf beside him as support.

Ten...

He'd been making nearly sixteen an hour, now it was down to ten, and before he was even told about it!

Tears began to stream down his face before he could stop them, forcing him to turn to face the shelf completely or risk getting even more unwanted attention.

After several long minutes trying to calm down, he gave up and stepped out, then opened the Discord app on his phone. He knew that Grim wouldn't be home right now and was probably at the gym, but he couldn't help his fingers as they shakily typed out message after message, then deleted each one before it could be sent.

He was just typing out his tenth message, his face completely twisted in terror and stress and covered in tears, when he suddenly stopped and noticed the three little dots moving right above his own text box.

Grim was typing.

Time seemed to stand still as he watched those three dots rise and fall in succession, over and over and over again. Then, after nearly five full minutes, a message came through, though it wasn't what he'd expected to see.

Grim: Voice chat, now

Before Ian had a chance to respond, his phone began ringing with Discord's incoming-call chime.

He picked it up immediately, refusing to ever let Grim wait, no matter if he was ready or not.

"Talk to me, babe."

When Grim's voice came over the receiver, Ian felt his shivering body instantly begin to calm.  Unfortunately, every time he tried to speak, he just ended up choking back a sob and sniffling, no matter how hard he tried to stop.

"You're that happy to fucking hear me?" Grim said as Ian noticed the sounds of stuff being moved around and people talking in the background.

He is at the gym... I'm disturbing him.

He tried to tell him that he didn't mean to bother him and that he should get back to what he was doing when he heard a notification beep come through their chat, signaling that a picture was sent.

"What do you think of that? Thirsty, my little pet?" Grim said, clearly half joking, but Ian was honestly having trouble hearing him due to the blood suddenly rushing through his head!

A-abs...

Not just abs, but the nicest fucking set he'd ever seen!

He knew that Grim liked going to the gym but he would have never imagined that he was hiding something so incredible beneath his wide array of black band and anime shirts! The guy was rather thin, too, so they weren't insane like some buff gym bro's, but they were the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

"You haven't sniffled in nearly two minutes. Better be fucking drooling, cause you're the only one that's ever gotten a pic of my sexy abs," Grim said, making Ian quickly close his mouth because he had been drooling!

He quickly wiped his mouth, then realized his nose had been running just as much as it and frowned as the back of his hand came away rather messy.

He let out a quiet sound if disapproval as he stood up, having not even realized that he'd squatted against the back of the building at some point.

"Why are you upset, Ren?" Grim finally asked, sensing that he had clearly calmed down a bit.

Wiping his hand on his already-dirty clothing, Ian sniffled one last time, then heaved a long sigh as he leaned back against the building, lifting the phone close to his mouth.

"My boss's son has been bothering me... for a long time. I did something with him, wh-when I started, but I don't want to do it again. He does..."

Grim stayed silent, clearly waiting for him to finish speaking... and thankfully not asking for any details about what he'd done.

"W-well, today he tried to bother me again, and I told him no. H-he then told me that they'd decreased my p-pay because I wasn't working hard enough, b-but I have the best numbers here. I-I have a second job, but I-I can't afford to not work two, but for ten dollars an hour..." he finished, starting to cry again even though he was trying hard to hold it back.

There was silence on the end for a while before Grim finally replied, but not with what he'd expected him to say.

"Do you work your other job today?"

Blinking away some tears, Ian shook his head, then replied in a scratchy tone.

"N-no."

A few more minutes passed then, leaving him to silently question if Grim had gotten distracted by someone else. He waited patiently... but he didn't like the idea of someone else, even if it was just a friend at the gym.

You have no right to be jealous of anyone else. You can barely even afford to feed yourself, don't have your high school diploma, and—he internally flinched as he heard familiar footsteps approach.

He didn't dare look up as Peter stopped next to him, already feeling defeated enough for one day. He didn't want to show him how badly he'd gotten to him with his tear-stained face and reddened eyes.

He could likely still see most of his shame since he was shorter than him, but it made him feel like he had the slightest fraction of control left over their situation when he didn't immediately meet his eyes.

"Why are you making me go through all this? I don't want to stress you out, babe, but you're not playing fair. You can't expect to suck me off the first week you're here, then just push me away for the next six months," Peter said in a chastising, falsely-sweet tone.

Ian desperately wanted to end the discord call so that Grim couldn't hear it, if he was even still paying attention, but he didn't dare hang up on him.

Either way, he was now even more embarrassed, and honestly, he was beginning to think that none of this was worth it.

Grim would get grossed out by what Peter had just said, because who wouldn't? Then he'd end the call and tell him to go fuck himself... or Peter.

His heart was beating so hard in his ears that he couldn't even hear the toxic guy rambling on about how sweet he'd been to him and how he was being unreasonable for not repaying him for all of his kindness.

Honestly, all Ian really wanted to do right then was bash his head into the wall behind him so that he didn't have to live in his current hell, but then he heard another chime from his phone, signaling that something had been sent to him over chat.

It somehow managed to break through his panic, as well as Peter's grating voice, drawing his eyes downward.

Huh...?

Staring at the screen, he read over the letters and numbers printed on the image over and over again.

It's... a train ticket.

The rush of blood ringing through his ears slowly ebbed, as did his fumbling heart.

"A... ticket?" he whispered out loud, making Peter falter in his admonishing to look down at his phone, too.

"What's so important that you can't listen to your boss?" he grumbled as he reached for the phone, making Ian have to quickly yank it away and hurry to the side to keep him from looking!

Grim's voice came over the receiver a moment later.

"Come here, babe. I'll be waiting."

Ian's hands shook as he held the phone against his chest like a lifeline.

"The fuck is that guy talking about? You screwing someone behind my back while tempting me every fucking day?!" Peter yelled, his face turning red as he finally stopped pretending to be nice.

Ian took several steps back as Peter quickly encroached on his personal space, clearly intending to pin him into a corner. He honestly had no more fight left in him, so he simply continued to retreat and shake, any words he might have wanted to speak, stuck in his constricting throat.

"Hey you fuck face! This guy is mine and if you try to fucking touch him again I'll get the cops on your fucking ass for reducing his pay illegally!" Grim suddenly yelled through the phone, startling both of them.

"You hear me you asshole?! If you think I'm fucking bluffing I'll be down there in less than an hour to either drag your ass to jail or rip your fucking junk apart with my bare hands! Take your fucking pick!"

Neither of them knew how to respond to that verbally, but Ian definitely understood what else he could do right then... and immediately took off running!

Peter tried to grab for his shirt collar before he turned, but managed to only grab the bill of his hat, allowing Ian to quickly dart away and out onto the sidewalk.

Surprisingly, Peter tried to chase after him, but the guy had no chance now that he had some distance between them. He might not have been obese, but he rarely did actual physical work and he didn't seem interested in exercising, so he quickly fell behind and out of sight.

Ian didn't stop, however, until his worn tennis shoes stepped onto the train.

The person checking tickets looked a little shocked by his panting and disheveled appearance, but they still offered him a careful smile and checked his electronic ticket when he presented his phone.

The two hour trip was quiet, with only a few words here and there from Grim. He was very clearly busy, because Ian could hear him talking in the background as more movement sounds came through his receiver than actual words, so he gladly kept his dry mouth closed and simply tried to control his own erratic breathing.

He'd calmed down from his run, mostly, but now the stress of the whole situation was making him nervous and shaky.

By the time he finally got off the train at the designated stop, he was close to breaking down again.

A chime took his attention as he stepped to the side to let other passengers off easier. Holding his phone up, he squinted through threatening tears to read what Grim had sent him.

The gym's address...

He wasn't sure he was okay enough to walk into a bustling facility, but even as his heart continued to race in his chest, his feet moved forward, one step at a time.

After nearly twenty minutes of mindless walking, he came to a stop outside of the biggest gym he'd ever seen.

Just from glancing through the floor-to-ceiling windows, he could easily count more than forty people milling about inside.

It took him nearly five minutes as he looked between the people inside and the address on his phone before he finally managed to make his shaky hand grip one of the door handles and slowly tug it open.

The chill that enveloped his sweaty body when he finally stepped inside brought several rounds of shivers, but also helped clear his head a little.

He quietly stepped to the side as people began to try and move around him, not wanting to get in the way as his eyes finally began earnestly looking for his man. Except, it didn't take long for him to realize that he was only looking at one tiny portion of the building, and there were several other massive rooms where he could be.

"Excuse me, sir? Can I help you?" one of the girls at the front desk asked with an awkward smile on her face.

Ian flinched, knowing that he probably looked about as good as he felt.

He inched a little closer, then glanced back towards the double doors leading outside.

"Oh, are you Ren, by chance?"

Hearing his game name, Ian jerked his head back around to stare at the young woman.

"Y-yes," he rasped, his voice nearly inaudible from stress.

The woman's nervous look changed into a warm smile as she grabbed a small paper badge and held it out to him.

"Take this guest pass and go ahead to the furthest room on the back right. Chester is waiting for you."

Chester?

Mechanically, Ian walked closer and took the little badge before clipping it to his shirt and slowly moving around the desk. He could feel plenty of eyes on him as he wandered further into the room, but thankfully no one tried to get his attention or talk to him.

After two tense minutes, he stopped outside another see-through door but paused after grabbing the handle in order to look to his left.

Several people were watching through the large windows and talking amongst themselves about hiring some personal trainer or something.

Chewing his lower lip, he disregarded their chatter and forced himself to tug open the door.

The moment he stepped inside, however, his feet froze in place and his already-dry mouth suddenly felt more arid than a desert.

There were easily twenty or so people in the room, and each one was busy doing some form of workout... all except one.

Ian couldn't help but just stand there and stare, and after nearly five minutes of doing so, almost every head in the room had turned to him. None of them mattered, though. He waited with baited breath until, finally, the only person he cared about in his entire world, finished speaking with a young woman who had just turned their attention to him, drawing Grim's over his shoulder, too.

Those gorgeous chocolate eyes...

They widened the slightest fraction as they fell upon him, then narrowed as a knowing smirk tilted the man's lips upward. Grim then lifted one arm and slowly curled his fingers, gesturing for him to come to him... and without an ounce of hesitation, Ian did.